Citizenship Amendment Act comes into force
13 Jan 2020
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The union government on Friday (10 January) announced the coming into force of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act that empowers refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh fleeing religious persecution in these countries with citizenship rights.
In a gazette notification, the union home ministry said the Act under which mostly Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be given Indian citizenship, will come into force from 10 January.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of the section 1 of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (47 of 2019), the central government hereby appoints the 10th day of January 2020, as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force," the notification said.
The CAA will ensure that members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till 31 December 2014 facing religious persecution there are not treated as illegal immigrants and given Indian citizenship.
The CAA, which was passed by Parliament on 11 December, has been facing opposition ire saying it left out Muslim refugees, which amounted to violation of basic tenets of the constitution.
The government has been arguing that the Act does not discriminate and only trying to help minority groups from the three countries with religious bias as they have no other option but to come India and that their plight is not of their choice.
The home ministry, however, is yet to frame the rules for the Act.
