The Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is set to notify the rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the law passed by Parliament in December 2019 that led to nationwide protests, ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections this year, The Indian Express reported citing sources on Wednesday.
The CAA Bill, which aims to fast-track citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who migrated to India following religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, was cleared by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on December 9 and December 11, 2019, respectively. The President’s nod to the bill was received on December 12, 2019.
According to The Indian Express, the government is now ready with the rules and an online portal set up to facilitate the entire process is also in place. “We are going to issue the rules for the CAA in the coming days. Once the rules are issued, the law can be implemented and those eligible can be granted Indian citizenship,” The Indian Express quoted sources as saying. They added that the entire process will be online and applicants can apply even from their mobile phones.
The sources cited by the paper claimed that with the entire setup in place, the rules are likely to be notified before the Election Commission of India announces the Lok Sabha polls schedule. The applicants will have to declare the year when they entered India without travel documents. No document will be sought from the applicants. Requests of the applicants, who had applied after 2014, will be converted as per the new rules,” the IE report quoted the sources as saying.
The Centre has so far sought eight extensions to the deadline for the framing of rules. Since the passage of the Bill two years ago, over 30 District Magistrates and Home Secretaries of nine states have been given powers to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan under the Citizenship Act of 1955, an official said.
The passage of the CAA Bill had triggered widespread concerns, particularly in the states of Assam and Tripura, of the law permanently altering the demography of the states. In Assam, the CAA is viewed as a legislation in contravention of the Assam Accord of 1985 that allowed foreign migrants who came to the state between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, to seek citizenship. The CAA alters the cut-off date for citizenship to December 31, 2014.