14 Individuals Receive Citizenship Certificates for the First Time Under CAA

Union Home Secretary Shri Ajay Kumar Bhalla recently handed over citizenship certificates to applicants in Delhi, emphasizing the key points of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Under the CAA, the eligibility period for citizenship application has been reduced from 11 to 5 years for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

The event, attended by Secretary Posts, Director (IB), Registrar General of India, and other senior officers, was an interactive session where the certificates were handed over. Enacted in December 2019, the CAA aims to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from the mentioned countries, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians.

The act received the president’s assent, but the rules for granting Indian citizenship were issued only on March 11, 2021, after a delay of over four years. The ruling BJP, which had committed to enacting the Citizenship Amendment Bill in its 2019 manifesto, cited the pandemic as the reason for the implementation delay.

However, the move drew criticism from the opposition, labeling it as discriminatory and linked to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The government maintained that the CAA does not hinder persecuted Muslims from applying for Indian citizenship under existing laws and that it is necessary to assist minorities facing persecution in Muslim-majority nations.

Despite this, protests against the implementation of the CAA took place in various parts of the country, with concerns that the law could be used to declare individuals as illegal immigrants and strip them of their Indian citizenship. In response, the government reassured that no Indian citizen would be required to produce any documents to prove their citizenship and clarified that the act does not pertain to the deportation of illegal immigrants.