Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 was presented by the Home Minister of India on 9th December 2019 in the 17th Lok Sabha. The bill was subsequently passed in both the Houses of Parliament and was assented by the President of India on 12th December 2019. After obtaining Presidential assent, the Bill became an Act, henceforth be known as the “Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.”
Short and Long Paragraphs on the Citizenship Amendment Act
Paragraph 1 – 100 Words
Citizenship Amendment Act is an Act passed by the parliament of India and assented by the President on 12th December 2019. It states to provide Citizenship to the Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, who are forced to flee to India facing religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh.
The act doesn’t cover Muslims in general as they can’t be religiously persecuted in the mentioned Islamic countries. Moreover, there are already over 20 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants living in India, out of which 5.7 million are residing in the state of West Bengal alone.
Paragraph 2 – 120 Words
Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 is an act that proposes to award Indian citizenship to illegal immigrants residing in India. However the Bill puts three mandatory conditions for the award of Indian citizenship to illegal immigrants; firstly, they must belong to any of the following six religious groups – Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis; secondly they must have migrated from any of the three countries namely Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and the last condition is that they must claim to be persecuted in their country of origin on the religious grounds.
Many political parties for their own vested interest and motives have been clubbing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizenship (NRC) together, spreading widespread confusion among the Muslims in India. Indian Muslims are coerced to believe that both NRC and CAA have been implemented to question their Indian citizenship and deport them, which is a fallacy.
Paragraph 3 – 150 Words
The government of India proposed a Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in the Parliament of India. The bill was subsequently passed in both the houses and obtained presidential assent on December 12th, 2019 thereby becoming an act.
The Citizenship Amendment Act seeks to award Indian citizenship to the immigrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Jains, Buddhists, and Christian communities who have been deported from Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh, facing religious persecution.
The immigrants belonging to the mentioned religious groups, those who have been deported to or fled to India, facing religious discrimination will be awarded the Indian Citizenship, even if they are not in possession of any legal document. Prior to the amendment Act 2019, there was a deadline for at least 11 years of residence in India, which has been reduced to 5 years in the 2019 amendment.
The government of India has very clearly stated that the CAA is a humanitarian gesture to shelter the religious minorities facing religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
Paragraph 4 – 200 Words
Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on 9th and 11th December 2019 respectively. The bill had proposed to amend the Citizenship rights of illegal immigrants residing in India, belonging to some specific religious groups – Hindus, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists, Christians, and Sikhs.
Illegal immigrants residing in India, who have come from any of the three countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan, will be awarded Indian citizenship if they have spent five years on Indian soil as on the date of 12th December 2019, the date when Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 became an Act.
However the bill covers only six religious communities – Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, and Parsis, those constitute oppressed minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. After it became an Act, the Bill is opposed by some of the political factions on the grounds that it is discriminatory and damages the idea of a secular India.
The opponents of the Bill claim that it excludes Muslim minority groups that have migrated from the listed countries. For instance, Shia Muslims are a minority in Pakistan yet they are left out; Rohingya Muslims are minorities in Myanmar and they are also not included in the citizenship Amendment Bill.
Paragraph 5 – 250 Words
The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 was passed in the Parliament of India in December 2019 and thereafter obtaining the consent of Hon’ble President of India, became an Act. The 2019 amendment is the sixth amendment of the Citizenship Act 1955.
When was the Citizenship Amendment Bill Passed?
The Home Minister of India Sri Amit Shah, in the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government, had introduced the Bill in the 17th Lok Sabha on December 9th, 2019 and was subsequently passed on December 10th by a majority of 311 MPs voting in favor while 80 MPs voting against the Bill.
Thereafter, the Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha on December 11, 2019, and was passed on the same day 125 voting in favor of the bill and 105 votings against it. The Bill got assented by the Hon’ble President of India, Mr. Ramnath Kovind on December 12th, 2019, thereby becoming an Act. The Act was finally included in the official Gazette of India and came into force on 10th January 2020.
What Does the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 Imply?
The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 changes the definition of illegal immigrants belonging to the following communities – Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians, who have migrated to India from either of the three countries Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
After the implementation of the Act, any migrant belonging to the mentioned religious groups and is coming from either Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh also residing in India for a period of five years, will not be considered as a migrant and be awarded Indian citizenship.
FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
Ans. The full form of CAA is Citizenship Amendment Act.
Ans. CAA provides citizenship to minority people from neighboring countries.
Ans. The religious communities of Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhists, Jain and Parsis are mentioned in CAA.
Ans. CAA was passed on 12th December 2019.