CAB becomes CAA, President gives his assent

December 13: Amidst widespread protest in several Northeastern states, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) now becomes Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).  President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday night gave his assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, turning it into an Act. The Act comes into effect with its publication in the official gazette on Thursday, according to a government notification.

The citizenship amendment bill aims to provide citizenship to those who were forced to seek shelter in India without valid travel documents because of religious persecution or fear of persecution in their home countries—primarily Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The bill thus amends the 1955 Act to grant exemptions to illegal migrants from these communities, who reached India on or before 31 December 2014.

However, the CAA will not be applicable to the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and in the areas covered under the Inner Line Permit, notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

The CAB was passed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Monday and Wednesday respectively after a fiery debate. Introducing the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the bill provides ‘hopes’ for people who are not living with permanent residency in India. He said that the Bill has been brought to rectify a historic blunder — the partition — and give a dignified life to non-Muslims of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who fled due to religious persecution and settled in India on or before December 31, 2014.