MHA directs 2 Gujarat districts to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh
On Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs launched a directive permitting collectors in Gujarat’s Mehsana and Anand districts to offer citizenship certificates beneath the Citizenship Act of 1955 to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Source: India Today
It must be underlined that the announcement has nothing to do with the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, which has but to take impact.
In accordance with Sections 5 (by registration) and 6 (naturalization) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, the announcement made on October 31 is supposed to help lawful immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who’ve beforehand registered for citizenship.
Ahead of polls, MHA to grant citizenship certificates to refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan in two Gujarat districts- points a notification.@Sabyasachi_13 shares particulars.#Gujarat #MHA pic.twitter.com/oZLPbErNtg
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The most up-to-date discover states that purposes have to be filed on-line and should first bear district-level verification by the Collector earlier than being forwarded to central authorities.
The MHA had beforehand delegated such powers to district magistrates or collectors. Similar orders issued in 2016, 2018, and 2021 gave District Magistrates in plenty of districts of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab the authority to subject citizenship certificates to migrants from the six communities who entered India with legitimate paperwork of id.
In a associated vein, 40 Pakistani Hindus obtained Indian citizenship certificates from Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi on the Ahmedabad collectorate in August of this 12 months. Since 2017, the Gujarati district of Ahmedabad has awarded citizenship to 1,032 Pakistanis.
According to present legal guidelines, a person could also be granted Indian citizenship on eight totally different bases: if an individual of Indian origin registers for it; if an individual is married to an Indian; if an individual’s dad and mom, who’re minors, are registered as Indian residents; if an individual, or both of their dad and mom, was a citizen of Independent India; if an individual is an Indian citizen of one other nation; if an individual is an Indian citizen of one other nation; and if a baby is naturalized and registered at an Indian consulate.
