Mar 11, 2024, 09:22PM ISTSource: TOI.in
The Central government has officially notified the rules of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), following Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement of its implementation before the Lok Sabha elections. This law facilitates Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who arrived before December 31, 2014. The CAA targets minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis facing persecution in Muslim-majority countries. The 2019 amendment expedites citizenship for migrants facing religious persecution and reduces the residency requirement from twelve to six years. An Intelligence Bureau report estimates over 30,000 immediate beneficiaries once the rules are enacted. The CAA, passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, was officially notified on December 12 of the same year after over four years of amendment. The Home Ministry reported granting Indian citizenship to 1,414 non-Muslim minority migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan from April 1 to December 31, 2021.