List of Awards and Honours in India

The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 was passed by members of the Lok Sabha on 09th December 2019. The main objective of passing the CAA Citizenship Amendment Act is to provide Indian citizenship to the people who are illegally migrated to India. This CAA is applicable for the below mentioned six community people, and they must migrate from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The six communities are Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Christians, Sikhs and Parsi. 

Since India is a peace-loving, secular and sovereign country, people from other countries are showing interest to obtain Indian citizenship. India is the only country in the world that has justified the slogan of 'Unity in diversity. All the information about Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 is explained here. 

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The above image symbolically represents the fact behind the citizenship amendment bill 2019.

When The Citizen Amendment Bill Passed? 

On 09th Of December, 2019, members of Lok sabha passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Then, Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 was signed by the President of India on 12th December 2019.  So, the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act was introduced. The entire article will give all the related information about Citizen Act 2019.

Why is The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 Important? 

Through the Citizenship Amendment Act, people who are illegally migrated into India as refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan can get their Indian citizenship. The government of India also mentioned that the people who are migrated should belong to the following communities, they are Christian, Sikh, Jain, Hindu, Buddhist, and Parsi.

Usually, the illegal migrant will be imprisoned or deported to the same country under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920. These two acts are empowering the central government to have a proper record of the entry, exit and residence of foreigners within India. So, the government of India created an opportunity to enrol them as Indian citizens for illegal migration through CAA Citizenship Amendment Act.

Cut Off Date For People To Enroll For Indian Citizenship 

According to the government’s announcement, the people who illegally migrated into India on or before 31st December 2014 can apply for Indian Citizenship. The government also insisted that the migrants must be forced or compelled to evacuate shelter from their ground region and take shelter in India are eligible to receive Indian citizenship.  

What is The  Citizenship Amendment Act, 1955? 

The list of five conditions that are provided in the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 1955 are listed below. Initially, people who are eligible through the below condition were only considered Indian citizens. They are listed below:

1. Citizenship by Birth

2. Citizenship by Descent

3. Citizenship by Registration

4. Citizenship by Naturalization

5. Citizenship by incorporation of territory

Provisions and Amendments Of Citizenship Act of 1955 

According to the Citizenship Amendment Bill 1955. The person who wishes to take Indian citizenship must stay in India for a minimum of  11 years. Later, this time span was reduced to 6 years. But according to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, it is enough to stay for five years for a person from other countries to India. 

Importance Features Of Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 

1. Initially, under the Citizenship Act 1955, a person can get an OCI card if they belong to India or their ancestors belong to India, or the spouse of a person belongs to India. Now, through CAA 2019, people who are travelling to India for work and studies are also eligible to receive the OCI card.  OCI represents the Overseas Citizenship of India. Through which they can permanently reside in India. But they do not have the right to vote in public elections. Also, they cannot hold official positions in the Indian government. 

2. The government of India also has the right to cancel the citizenship of the person in India through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. According to that act, the person involved in showing disaffection to the Constitution of India, Engaging with the enemy during war., Registration through fraud, damaging the sovereignty of India and a person in jail for two or more than two years within five years of registration as OCI. Then the government of India will not provide the Overseas Citizenship of India to that person. 

In the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the government of India has created many more limitations for the cancellation of OCI. 

3. The list of additional rules imposed by the government of India through The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, for acquiring citizenship are listed below. 

i) The person should be inside India on or before 31st of December 2014 are eligible to get Indian citizenship; 

ii)  A person who got OCI or who is waiting for OCI should not be involved in further illegal migration or other illegal activities. Otherwise, the citizenship of the person will be closed. This bill cannot support the people who are from the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura because they are already induced in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

iii) This act does not include people who are notified under the  Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. So, this act kept almost the entire Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland out of the ambit of the Act.

4. The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2016 is applicable for the people who are illegally migrated from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. And they must belong to any of the six communities that they are mentioned. Those six communities are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. This act does not give any information about the illegally migrated Muslim communities.