Citizenship All of us are citizens of a state or a few states and hence enjoy certain privileges and perform certain duties. Citizenship is a symbiotic relationship between the state and an individual. All the citizens have allegiance towards the state and in turn, the state protects the certain rights of the citizens.
Constitutional Provisions Part II (Article 5-11) of the Indian constitution deals with the matter of citizenship however none of the provisions are elaborative or complete as they do not deal with the problems of acquisition and loss of citizenship. Article 11 hence empowers the parliament to make laws for the regulation of citizenship rights.
Indian Citizenship Act 1955 The parliament in 1955 brought the Indian Citizenship Act which has been amended eight times since then i.e In 1957, 1960, 1985, 1992, 2003, 2005 and 2015. It has provisions regarding citizenship by birth, descent, registration, naturalization and accession of a territory into a Union of India.
Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 On July 15, 2016, the then NDA government brought the citizenship amendment bill which was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, 2019. The bill lapsed at the end of the tenure of the 16th Lok Sabha but with the NDA in power with a thumping majority and Amit Shah as home minister, the bill is sure to make a retreat in the parliament. The proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to make two significant changes one is to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and to reduce the requirement of residing in India from 12 years to 7 years.
Controversies surrounding the proposed amendment The bill violates the principles of Equality and Secularism enshrined in the constitution and is hence unconstitutional. India is a secular democratic republic so there should be no place for the provision of citizenship on a religious basis. Although it is argued that the government wants to support the oppressed minorities but this argument is not valid as the bill completely ignores the Muslim minorities such as the Shias and the Ahmadis.
NRC, Illegal Migrants, and Protests in the North East As per the Assam accord of 1985 the NRC exercise is being carried out in Assam under the supervision of the supreme court to identify the illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The proposed amendment would grant citizenship to the Bangladeshi Hindus who account for nearly half of 4 million illegal migrants identified in the final draft of the NRC. Also, it would legalize the Buddhist Chakma migrants in the states of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. The native Kokbrok people have reduced to a mere 33% of the population due to the influx of migrants. Regional parties in all the northeastern states have expressed their objection to the legalization of illegal migrants as it would provide them equal rights as the indigenous people. The NDA allies in the northeast have threatened to quit the alliance in case the regional aspirations are not adhered to.
If the bill makes a retreat in the parliament and is passed by both the houses(since NDA would soon be in majority in both the houses) it could be challenged in the supreme court as it is a threat to the secular fabric of the constitution.
By Renu Grewal
Literary Sources- Indian Polity By M. Laxmikant, economictimes.com, thehindu.com
