Citizenship Amendment Bill receives Presidential assent to become law

President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday gave his assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 that has now become an Act. Earlier on Wednesday, the Rajya Sabha passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 (CAB) by a majority of 125-105 votes. This comes after more than 40 MPs including P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Derek O'Brien, Sanjay Singh, Sanjay Raut, and Vaiko put forth their arguments either in favour or against the CAB. As per the official notification, the law came into effect after its publication in the official gazette late on Thursday night.

In the Citizenship Act, 1955, in section 2, in sub-section (1), in clause (b), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:

"Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before December 31, 2014 and who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act."  

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What is the CAB?

The CAB seeks to provide citizenship to the minority communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. This will be applicable to the members of these communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. Moreover, they will not be considered as illegal migrants. Additionally, the mandatory residence period for naturalised citizenship for these communities would be reduced to 5 years. Several parties in the North East such as the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) have been vehemently opposed to this Bill. The opposition contends that the Bill discriminates on the basis of religion, which might go against Article 14, which guarantees the right to equality. The CAB was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday after a day-long debate. Two days later, the Upper House of the Parliament cleared the Bill with a majority of 125-105.

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Various stages of the Bill 

The CAB was first introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 19, 2016. Thereafter, it was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) which submitted its report on January 7, 2019. While it received the assent of the Lok Sabha the very next day, the Bill remained pending in the Rajya Sabha as BJP did not have enough numbers for its passage. After the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in May 2019, the Bill automatically lapsed. 

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(With Inputs from ANI)