{"id":1110,"date":"2024-05-19T13:04:41","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T07:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/knowledgekart.in\/blog\/?p=1110"},"modified":"2024-05-20T11:51:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T06:21:00","slug":"the-citizenship-amendment-act-caa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knowledgekart.in\/blog\/the-citizenship-amendment-act-caa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Citizenship Amendment Act CAA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) All you need to know UPSC 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. It seeks to allow illegal migrants from certain minority\n communities who are facing religious persecution or fear of religious \npersecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian \ncitizenship <\/em><\/strong>by amending the Citizenship Act of 1955.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) All you need to know UPSC 2020. (Remember<\/strong> bill is about those religiously persecuted non muslim immigrants from above said muslim majority countries who have already come to India before a cut off date of 31st<\/sup> Dec 2014. Some romour mongers are involved in false narrative that all future non muslims immigrants will be given citizenship. <\/strong>On the other hand reality is \u2013\u00a0 Applicant should have entered India on or before 31st<\/sup> Dec 2014. According to an estimate crores of such people are already living in India)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. It seeks to grant citizenship to people from minority communities \u2014<\/em><\/strong>Hindus,\n Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians \u2014after 6 years of stay \nin India even if they do not possess any proper document. The current \nrequirement is 12 years of stay ( including 12 months immediately \npreceding the date of application). However Muslims can still get \ncitizenship by already existing naturalization process which has a \nrequirement of 12 years of stay.<\/li>
    2. The Bill provides that the registration of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders may be cancelled if they violate any law.<\/em><\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      The Bill, however, does not extend to illegal Muslim migrants. <\/em><\/strong>It also does not talk about other minority communities in the three neighbouring countries, such as Jews, Bahais etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ** Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and former President Dr. \nRajendra Prasad and government at that time had promised to give shelter\n to anyone from the minority community, who had remained in Pakistan, to\n come and live in India whenever they wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      **Even Mahatma Gandhi on 7th<\/sup> July 1947 said that if Hindus\n and Sikhs living in Pakistan wish to come to India in future, \nGovernment of India is bound to provide them employment, citizenship and\n comfortable life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      **On 18th<\/sup> December 2003, while speaking in Rajya Sabha, \nDr. Manmohan Singh has been heard emotionally arguing:  \u201cWith regard to \nthe treatment of refugees after the partition of our countries, the \nminorities in countries like Bangladesh have faced persecution and it is\n our moral obligation that if circumstances force these unfortunate \npeople to seek refuge in our country, our approach to grant citizenship \nto these unfortunate persons should be liberal\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      However, the bill is being criticised for the following reasons:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. The Bill makes illegal migrants eligible for citizenship on the \nbasis of religion. This may violate Article 14 of the Constitution which\n guarantees the right to equality. (However right to Equality is not \nabsolute right in India. With Reasonable justification citizenship may \nbe given. It\u2019s a prerogative of any country. For Example US immigration \nrules are discriminatory, many countries grant citizenship on the basis \nof investment by the applicants)<\/li>
      2. It attempts to naturalise the citizenship of illegal immigrants in the region.<\/li>
      3. The Bill allows cancellation of OCI registration for violation of \nany law. This is a wide ground that may cover a range of violations, \nincluding minor offences.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Need for Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016:<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
        1. There are lakhs of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and \nParsis who have entered India after facing religious persecution in \ncountries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan without any valid \ndocument. Lakhs of such people are already in India awaiting citizenship\n and living a miserable life in slum areas.<\/li>
        2. These refugees have been facing difficulty in getting Long Term Visa (LTV) or Citizenship.<\/li>
        3. The existing Citizenship law does not allow anyone granting Indian \nnationality if he or she can not show proof of documents on country of \nbirth and therefore they have to stay at least 12 years in India.<\/li>
        4. Those Hindus who are persecuted due to religion has no other place to go except India.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) vs National Register for Citizens (NRC)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          CAA is an act passed by the parliament applicable to whole India \nwhile NRC is applicable to only Assam. NRC is the National Register of \nCitizens. The NRC identified illegal immigrants from Assam on the \nSupreme Court\u2019s order. This has been a state-specific exercise to keep \nits ethnic uniqueness unaltered. But ever since its implementation, \nthere has been a growing demand for its nationwide implementation. NRC \nis not based on religion.
          \nOn 31st August, the updated National Registry of Citizens was released in Assam after a Supreme Court deadline.  Of the 3.3 crore applicants, 3.11 crore figured in the final citizens\u2019 list, while about 19 lakh residents were excluded<\/strong>.\n This led to protests about an uncertain future of such a large number \nof people. The government, however, has allayed all such fears, saying \nno person whose name is not there in the final list will be detained \ntill he \/ she exhausts all legal remedies. The excluded people have about 120 days to appeal against their exclusion to the foreigner tribunals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Assam Accord, 1985<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          During the year 1985, the Assam Accord was signed between the All \nAssam Students Union (AASU), the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad and the\n then Central Government led by Rajiv Gandhi to bring stability in the \nstate. The provisions of the Assam Accord were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n