2. CITIZENSHIPAMENDMENTBILL,2016
INDIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR PEOPLE OF 6RELIGIONS FROM 3 COUNTRIES
Citizenship amendment Bill (CAB) is a bill amending the
Citizenship Act of 1955.
Objective of Amendment: To make illegal migrants eligible
for Indian Citizenship.
Who are the Beneficiary ?: Six Religions (Hindus, Sikhs,
Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians) from three Countries
(Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan) who entered India on
or before 31st December, 2014.
Reduction of requirement of residence: The requirement of
residence in India for citizenship by naturalisation will be
relaxed from 11 years to 5 years for these migrants.
3. What is this 5 years requirement of residence?
The applicant must have resided in India during the
last 12 months and for 11 years of the previous 14
years which is now proposed to be reduced to 5
years.
4. OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) : The bill provides that
the registration of OCI cardholders may be cancelled if
they violate any law notified by the Central Government.
Such as if they obtained registration through fraud , or they
are sentenced to imprisonment for two or more years within
5 years of registration. An opportunity of being heard will be
provided before cancellation of the said registration .
5. Who is OCI ?
A foreigner having their origin from India for
example former citizen of India or their
descendants or the spouse of a person of Indian
origin.
CAB entitle the OCI cardholder’s to benefits such as
the right to travel to India, and to work and study in
the country.
6. States exempted : Tribal areas of Assam,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura included in the
6th schedule of the Constitution are exempted from
it’s applicability. . It also exempt the area regulated
through the ‘Inner line Permit’ (ILP) notified under
the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 which
includes Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and
Nagaland. Manipur is also proposed to brought
under ILP.
7. How many will be added to India’s population? :
As per IB data there are 31,313 persons belonging to
these minority community living in India will be added
.
