Govt announces implementation of CAA four years after it was passed

New Delhi: Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Centre on Monday announced the implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 for granting citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

With the CAA rules being issued, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — from the three countries.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently got the president’s assent but there were protests in several parts of the country against it. The law could not come into effect as rules had not been notified till now.

“These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for the grant of Indian citizenship,” a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

“The applications will be submitted in a completely online mode for which a web portal has been provided,” the spokesperson added.

According to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, the rules for any legislation should be framed within six months of presidential assent or the government has to seek an extension from the Committees on Subordinate Legislation in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Since 2020, the Home Ministry has been taking extensions at regular intervals from the parliamentary committee for framing the rules.

No document will be sought from the applicants, an official said.

PTI