All You Need To Know On Citizen Amendment Act 2019
Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) 2019
The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) is a bill introduced by the Central Government in the Parliament of India in 2019 to primarily amend the Citizenship Act of 1955. The Rajya Sabha passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 a day after the contentious legislation was approved by the Lok Sabha. 125 members of the Upper House of Parliament voted in favour of the Bill, whereas 105 voted against it. whereas in Lok Sabha, 311 votes were casted in favour of Citizen Amendment bill and 80 votes were against it.
The main purpose of the bill is to make certain religious communities of illegal migrants or refugees eligible for Indian citizenship. This bill grants the citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians who migrated to India till the end of 2014 from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, due to reasons like persecutions.
The reason why this bill is becoming controversial, because it includes Hindu, Sikh, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians but it does not include Muslims and Srilankan Tamils. Also, it gives the nationality only to the Non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Secondly, only six- religious communities are eligible for the Indian Citizenship if they entered in India on or before 31-12-2014. The bill has reduced the minimum residency period of an individual in India to seven years from Twelve years earlier to apply for the citizenship in India. These six- communities include Hindu, Sikh, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians but not Muslims.
As we all know every coin has two faces similarly the Citizen Amendment Bill 2019 have faces a positive and a negative or pros and cons.
Specific Implications To Citizen Amendment Act 1955
Many people who were/are part of India and who have been applying for citizenship under Citizen Amendment Act 1955, and was not able to provide there valid proof for their Indian now they can claim their Citizenship if they belong to six communities listed under Citizen Amendment Bill 2019, these communities are as follow- Hindu, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians but apart from Muslims.
This will also save the victims who suffered during the partition of (Hindu -Bengalis) who got stuck in East Pakistan now Bangladesh.
This bill will also be in support of the immigrants of particularly 3 countries i.e. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan if they belong to those six communities.
Drawbacks Of Citizen Amendment Act
The first charge on government is that this bill is only for the six communities mentioned and also is limited to 3 countries of the world,
Since the Muslims are not given/ provided with the Indian Citizenship, this has led to the huge protest in certain parts of the country. Also, it violates the basic rights of the constitution i.e. violation of Fundamental Right to Equality stated under Article 14, Indian Constitution by distinguishing illegal immigrants on the basis on religion and specifically this bill is targeting Muslims.
This Citizen Amendment Bill 2019 also violates the provision of Secularism, Fundamental rights and Directive Principles which is the part of the Indian Constitution.
This Bill also lead to the brutal protest and the riots in capital of country. which furthermore lead to the threat to the life of students who are involved in the protest.
Due to the Citizen Amendment Bill (CAB) the brutal riots have started in the educational institutions as well, Police are involved in large number and students are protesting the bill. The students of Jamia Millia Islamia University are indulged in protest and police force are also stopping them to do so. This furthermore leading to the huge protest and threat to the life of students, police and individuals living nearby.
To the conclusion Bill have both negative and positive aspect, no Bill is perfect, it’s just the opinion of individual and viewpoint that matters, at the end to understand the particular aspect of the scheme or anything.
Piyush Wadhwa
Intern-INBA