Introduction

Recently, the Parliament of India passed an Act, known as the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, and brought in a few changes to the law governing grant of citizenship of India to migrant refugees from three of our neighbouring countries. The passage of this bill has led to huge protests and even violence across several parts of the country. Opinion is strongly divided and there is huge debate on the issue since many days now.

People who are speaking for and against the modification of this law fall into three basic categories.

Those who understand the facts regarding Indian citizenship, and the recent changes brought in, and consequently support or oppose the amendment. Those who do not care to gather facts about the issue and yet strongly support or oppose the amendment, for ideological or political reasons. Those who are ignorant about the issue but yet have a strong opinion about the whole development.

People who belong to category (a) do not need any additional fact-feeding. Those in category (b) cannot be fed any information. This article, therefore, will attempt to focus on people in category (c) and bring out some facts about Indian citizenship and the recent modifications to the same.

Citizenship in the Constitution of India

An entire section of our Constitution is dedicated to the issue of citizenship. Articles 5 to 11 of the document focus on defining the high level principles that should govern grant of citizenship and associated matters. The provisions in the Constitution broadly focus on the following:

Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution (1950) and going forward

Citizenship criteria for those who migrated to India from Pakistan

Citizenship criteria for those who reverse migrated to Pakistan from India (and decided to come back)

Citizenship for those whose origins are Indian but who stay elsewhere

Factors that can bar citizenship

Powers of Parliament to make laws and rules governing this issue

It is the last mentioned point above that led to the Citizenship Act of 1955 that is the operative law governing citizenship in India. The principle Act of 1955 has been amended several times, most notably in 2004, 2005 and 2015.

Ways to acquire Citizenship

According to ‘The Citizenship Act 1955’ of India, any person can become a citizen through 5 channels:

Citizenship by birth Citizenship by descent Citizenship by registration Citizenship by naturalization Citizenship by incorporation of territory

Citizenship by birth

Section 3 of the law defines the criterion for citizenship by birth. Broadly, they are as follows:

Every person born in India between 26 th January 1950 and 1 st of July 1987

January 1950 and 1 of July 1987 Every person born in India between 2 nd of July 1987 and 3 rd December 2004, and either one of his parents being a citizen of India

of July 1987 and 3 December 2004, and either one of his parents being a citizen of India Every person born in India after 3rd of December 2004 and either both or at least one of the parents being a citizen of India, provided none of his parents are illegal migrants.

Citizenship by descent

Section 4 of the Act governs this aspect. This is mainly applicable for those born outside of India. The conditions, broadly, are as below:

Person born outside of India between 26 th January 1950 and 10 th December 1992 but whose father is a citizen of India at the time of birth

January 1950 and 10 December 1992 but whose father is a citizen of India at the time of birth Person born outside of India after 10th December 1992 and either of his parents being a citizen of India at the time of birth

A few supplementary conditions exist such as the need to register the birth at the appropriate Indian consulate within a stipulated time, and the non-holding of the passport of another country for a minor.

Citizenship by registration

Section 5 of the Act details this provision through which people of “Indian Origin” can obtain citizenship. The main conditions are:

A person of Indian origin must have resided for at least 7 years in India

A person who is married to an Indian citizen and has resided in India for over 7 years

Minor children whose parents are citizens of India

A person who is registered as an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) and has resided here for 5 years

Under this section, the term “Indian Origin” defines a person if he, or either of his parents, was/were born in undivided India or in such other territory which became part of India after the 15th day of August, 1947.

Citizenship by naturalisation

Under section 6 of the Act, which details the conditions for citizenship through the naturalisation, people can apply for citizenship through this channel if they satisfy the conditions laid out in the “Third Schedule” of the same Act. Some of the key conditions under the Schedule are:

that he is not a subject or citizen of any country where citizens of India are prevented by law or practice of that country from becoming subjects or citizens of that country by naturalization

that during the fourteen years immediately preceding the period of twelve months before applying for naturalisation, he has either resided in India or been in the service of a Government in India for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than eleven years

that he is of good character

that he has an adequate knowledge of a language specified in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution

that in the event of a certificate of naturalisation being granted to him, he intends to reside in India

A few more conditions are also part of the Schedule.

Citizenship by acquisition of territory

Section 7 of the Act defines this category. If the country acquires new territory, then the residents of the acquired territory become citizens, subject to conditions that the Government may define during that time.

Note that all of the above categories for obtaining citizenship are available to all people, irrespective of their caste, creed, gender, race, language or any other factor .

The 2019 Amendment to the Act

The recently passed Citizenship Amendment Bill makes a couple of modifications to Section 6 of the Act, through which people can obtain citizenship by naturalisation.

It is worth highlighting here that the amendment Act does not modify any of the conditions in any of the other citizenship-acquisition sections of the original Act.

The twin routes of (a) citizenship by registration and (b) citizenship by naturalization specifically bars people who are “illegal migrants” from becoming citizens. The term illegal migrant refers to those who have entered the country without proper documents or those whose once valid documents are no longer valid, but who nevertheless have stayed on in India.

Due to this stringent condition of illegal migrants not qualifying for citizenship, refugee migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who fled their countries due to religious persecution in those countries could not hope to obtain citizenship here. In order to make it possible for such people who have sought refuge in our country due to their civilizational connect with ancient India, the amendment modified the definition of “illegal migrants” to leave out such people. A new proviso to the clause under Section 2 of the Act was added and it stated as follows:

“Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act”

Thus, all Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who came to India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan before December 31st 2014 and were thus far treated as illegal migrants were absolved of that tag. This allows them to apply for citizenship through the naturalisation route.

A second important amendment made was to reduce the time requirement defined in the “Third Schedule” for such refugees from eleven years to five years.

A couple of other minor changes to the Act were made along with the above two changes to facilitate the processing of applications from such qualifying refugees.

Two important points to note here:

The provisions of these amendments have not been created for perpetuity. It is beneficial only to those who have entered the country prior to the 31st of December 2014. Thus, it is a one-time relaxation.

Justification for the amendment

A very detailed and lucid explanation justifying the need for these amendments have been provided by the Government under the “Statements and Objects” of the bill that was introduced in Parliament. It is best to read the same in full.

“It is a historical fact that trans-border migration of population has been happening continuously between the territories of India and the areas presently comprised in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Millions of citizens of undivided India belonging to various faiths were staying in the said areas of Pakistan and Bangladesh when India was partitioned in 1947. The constitutions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh provide for a specific state religion. As a result, many persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities have faced persecution on grounds of religion in those countries. Some of them also have fears about such persecution in their day-to-day life where right to practice, profess and propagate their religion has been obstructed and restricted. Many such persons have fled to India to seek shelter and continued to stay in India even if their travel documents have expired or they have incomplete or no documents. 3. Under the existing provisions of the Act, migrants from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh who entered into India without valid travel documents or if the validity of their documents has expired are regarded as illegal migrants and ineligible to apply for Indian citizenship under section 5 or section 6 of the Act”

The reasons for reducing their waiting period has also been explained well under the same section.

“Many persons of Indian origin including persons belonging to the said minority communities from the aforesaid countries have been applying for citizenship under section 5 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 but they are unable to produce proof of their Indian origin. Hence, they are forced to apply for citizenship by naturalisation under section 6 of the said Act, which, inter alia, prescribe twelve years residency as a qualification for naturalisation in terms of the Third Schedule to the Act. This denies them many opportunities and advantages that may accrue only to the citizens of India, even though they are likely to stay in India permanently. Therefore, it is proposed to amend the Third Schedule to the Act to make applicants belonging to the said communities from the aforesaid countries eligible for citizenship by naturalisation if they can establish their residency in India for five years instead of the existing eleven years”

Conclusion

India has a civilizational responsibility to provide shelter to persecuted minorities from its neighbourhood. Hence the amendments to the Citizenship Act had become very necessary. By keeping the changes to the bare minimum need to achieve the stated purpose, the Government has made sure that the basic principles of granting citizenship has not been fundamentally altered.

India remains a country where people of all religions live together. People belonging to all religions can come into the country, qualify as per the stated conditions, and become equal citizens. There is no bar for people belonging to any religion from becoming citizens of India.

It is time the misinformation regarding the implications of this Act is corrected, and the correct purport of the move is made known to the masses.

Image Credits: DiplomatTesterMan [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]