Report on Citizenship Amendment Act 2019: What it has to say ?

~Preet

In its most recent annual report for 2020-21, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 is a humane and ameliorative law that does not deprive any Indian of citizenship.  The CAA, which intends to offer citizenship to migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan who belong to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian groups, was notified on December 12, 2019, and went into effect on January 10, 2020.  Protests erupted around the country in response to the law.

There are concerns that the CAA, which will be followed by a nationwide compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), will benefit non-Muslims who are not on the planned citizens' register, while excluded Muslims will have to justify their citizenship. It violates the Assam Accord of 1985, which specifies that unlawful migrants from Bangladesh arriving after March 25, 1971, regardless of faith, will be deported. There are an estimated 20 million undocumented Bangladeshi migrants in Assam, and they have irreversibly transformed the state's demographics while also putting a significant pressure on the state's resources and economy.

Critics contend that it violates Article 14 of the Constitution (which ensures the right to equality and applies to both citizens and foreigners) as well as the idea of secularism entrenched in the constitution's preamble. Other refugees in India include Tamils from Sri Lanka and Hindu Rohingya from Myanmar. They are not protected by the Act. It will be impossible for the administration to distinguish between unlawful migrants and those who are being persecuted. The Act sheds light on religious oppression that has occurred and continues to occur in these three countries, potentially deteriorating our bilateral relations with them.

Indian people are not covered by the CAA. As a result, it in no way diminishes or restricts the rights of any Indian citizen. Furthermore, the current legal process for attaining Indian citizenship by any foreigner of any type, as specified in the Citizenship Act of 1955, is fully operational, and the CAA makes no changes to this legal situation in any way. As a result, lawful migrants of any faith from any nation will continue to obtain Indian citizenship if they meet the qualifying requirements for registration or naturalisation previously outlined in the legislation. The annual report tried to calm anxieties in the Northeast about the law by stating that the exclusion of places protected by the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and those covered by the Inner Line Permit system would safeguard the protection of the region's indigenous and tribal communities. 

The notice of its rules, which is required for the law to be implemented, is still delayed, with no promise from the government as to when it will occur. As a result, MHA should inform the CAA guidelines in the most transparent manner possible, dispelling any concerns about CAA.