Citizenship Amendment Bill scheduled to be introduced in Lok Sabha

The
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 is scheduled to be introduced in the Lok
Sabha today. The Bill has been listed in the business of the Lower House.

The
legislation is calculated to modify the existing law in order to grant exceptions
to illegal migrants in selected categories. The bill seeks to amend the
Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants of six communities from
Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship.

The
communities are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. The
legislation relaxes the 11-year criteria for citizenship to six years for
refugees belonging to these six religions.

The Bill
also proposes to give immunity to such refugees facing legal cases after being
found illegal migrants.

The
amendment will not be applicable to the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya,
Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and in
the areas covered under the Inner Line Permit (ILP). The ILP regime is
applicable in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.

Meanwhile,
BJP has issued a whip to its MPs in the Lok Sabha, asking them to be present in
the House till Wednesday. Trinamool Congress has also issued a whip its MPs for
four days from today.