22-03-2024 | 17:25 PM
Recently, the Indian government has notified the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, 2024.
Objective
To modify the Citizenship Amendment Act 1955.
To help non-Muslim migrants from India’s neighbouring Muslim-majority countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh) to obtain citizenship.
Key Highlights
It proposes that migrants belonging to six minority communities–Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan won’t be considered illegal immigrants if they enter India without proper documents on or before December 31, 2014.
It provides a path to Indian citizenship for particular categories of illegal migrants.
The application process for acquiring Indian citizenship under CAA has been made under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
It reduces the period of residency from 11 years to 5 years, for acquiring permanent Indian citizenship through naturalization.
Individuals belonging to specified communities are exempted from criminal prosecution under the Foreigners Act of 1946 and the Passport Act of 1920, which specify punishment for entering the country illegally and staying on expired visas and permits.
The provisions on Indian citizenship for illegal migrants will not apply to two categories:
(i) Regions protected by the ‘Inner Line Permit‘.
(ii) Areas covered under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
