GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 10th August. The Centre has broadened the scope of the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), facilitating the process for persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to obtain Indian nationality.
The Union Home Ministry announced that “any document” issued by central or state governments, or quasi-judicial bodies in India proving that an applicant’s parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were citizens of the specified countries will now be acceptable.
This clarification follows difficulties reported by many applicants under the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024. Previously, the rules required proof that either the applicant or their ancestors were nationals of the three countries.
The updated directive specifies that acceptable documents could include land records, judicial orders, or other official papers from central or state authorities in India. This adjustment aims to streamline the citizenship application process for those affected by the earlier restrictions.
The CAA, enacted in December 2019, provides Indian nationality to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014. Despite receiving presidential assent in 2019, the rules for implementation were only issued in March 2024, following a four-year delay.
The CAA’s passage triggered widespread protests across the country, with critics decrying it as discriminatory. Over a hundred people lost their lives in clashes related to the anti-CAA protests and subsequent police actions.
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