In a significant move, the central government has expanded the scope of the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), providing relief to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who are seeking Indian nationality. The Union Home Ministry announced new guidelines allowing for greater flexibility in the documentation required to prove eligibility under the Act. Earlier, applicants were required to provide specific documents to establish their lineage and connection to India, which posed challenges for many.
Documentation flexibility eases citizenship application process
Reports surfaced that a particular clause in the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 was causing difficulties for a significant number of applicants. In response to these concerns, the Union Home Ministry has now clarified that "any document" issued by central or state governments, or even a quasi-judicial body in India, will be acceptable for proving that either a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent is or had been a citizen of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan. "Any document that shows that either of the parents or grandparents or great grandparents of the applicant is or had been a citizen of one of the three countries i.e of Afghanistan or Bangladesh or Pakistan," the earlier clause of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 says.
What does new rules say?
In its latest clarification, the home ministry said: "It may be clarified that the documents under Sr No.8 of the Schedule -1A may include any document issued by the central government/state government/ any judicial or quasi-judicial body in India such as land record, judicial order etc., identifying or representing that the applicant or the parents or grandparents or great grandparents had been a national of Afghanistan or Bangladesh or Pakistan. The above clarification may be taken note of while deciding any citizenship application under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), it said.
About Citizenship (Amendment) Act
The CAA was enacted in December 2019 for granting Indian nationality to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014. After the enactment, the CAA got the president's assent but the rules under which Indian citizenship would be granted were issued only on March 11 this year, after over a delay of four years. Since May, the government has been granting citizenship to those coming from the three countries under the CAA. The nod to the CAA in 2019 sparked protests in different parts of the country with agitators terming it "discriminatory". Over a hundred people lost their lives during the anti-CAA protests or police action in various parts of the country.
(With PTI inputs)
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