Citizenship amendment bill essay
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The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 seeks to provide Indian citizenship to illegal refugees from 6 communities coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. These 6 communities include; Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian, Jain, and Parsi.
Worth to mention that Illegal migrants can be imprisoned or deported under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920. These two Acts empower the central government to check the entry, exit and residence of foreigners within India.
The cut-off date for citizenship is December 31, 2014, which means the applicant should have intruded into India on or before this date.
The intruders or illegal immigrants are those who were “forced or compelled to take shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of their religion” in their native country. Hence the bill seek to remove the words "illegal immigrants".
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 1955 describes 5 conditions for obtaining citizenship of India, such as
1. Citizenship by Birth
2. Citizenship by Descent
3. Citizenship by Registration
4. Citizenship by Naturalization
5. Citizenship by incorporation of territory
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 1955 made it mandatory for a person to stay in India for at least 11 years to acquire citizenship naturally, which was later reduced to 6 years, but in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, this period reduced to 5 years.
Hence those opposing this Act feel that it will make all illegal immigrants easier to become citizens of India which will be detrimental to the genuine citizens. The Act will enable illegal immigrants to occupy land, take over commercial businesses, and cause more unemployment to the original citizens and indigenous people of the country. Their view is that the government has shown its weakness to control illegal immigrants which is a major problem of many states of the country.