what was the reaction of indian citizens on citizenship amendment bill
Answers
Answer:
The court told the federal government to prepare a response to the petitions, but the law has not been stayed.
The decision comes even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi reacted with defiance to widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The law offers citizenship to non-Muslims from three nearby countries.
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government says it will protect people from persecution, but critics say it's part of a "Hindu nationalist" agenda to marginalise India's more than 200 million Muslims.
Adding to the fears is a government announcement that it plans to carry out a widespread exercise to weed out "infiltrators" from neighbouring countries.
Given that the exercise relies on extensive documentation to prove that their ancestors lived in India, many Muslim citizens fear that they could be made stateless.
However, Mr Modi said the law "will have no effect on citizens of India, including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Buddhists".
Who is protesting and why?
There have been demonstrations in cities across India.
Opponents say the law is exclusionary and violates the secular principles enshrined in the constitution. They say faith should not be made a condition of citizenship.
Others though - particularly in border states - fear being "overrun" by new arrivals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Many of the student demonstrations focus less on the law itself but more on the alleged police brutality against protesters.
The capital Delhi has seen mass protests over the past days after a student demonstration on Sunday turned violent and left dozens injured.
Answer:
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.