New Delhi: Two months after the Ministry of Home Affairs notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2024, the central government Wednesday issued the first set of citizenship certificates to 14 applicants in New Delhi.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla handed out the certificates after a state level empowered committee in Delhi granted the citizenship, based on fulfilment of the terms and conditions of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act by the applicants.
The rules had been notified by the Narendra Modi-led government on 11 March this year. CAA was passed by the Parliament in December 2019, paving the way for non-Muslim immigrants from the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to attain Indian citizenship.
According to the terms laid out by the home ministry, immigrants from Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian communities, who entered India on or before 31 December 2014 without any documents, were declared eligible to apply.
ThePrint had reported on 12 March that the MHA had mandated proof of nationality and their date of entry into India as the prerequisites for citizenship applications.
The ministry had outlined nine documents for the immigrants to prove their nationality, such as a copy of the passport, birth certificate issued by a government authority, government-issued identity document of any kind, any government-issued certificate or licence, land or tenancy records in countries of origin, documents establishing their parents/grandparents/great grandparents were citizens of the country, or any other document issued by the government establishing that they had come from the three listed countries, along with the citizenship forms before the competent authority.
For the date of entry, MHA had listed 17 documents, such as a copy of the visa and immigration stamp at the time of arrival in India, government-issued documents and licences like driving licence and Aadhaar, any letter issued to the applicant by any court or government with a time stamp, ration card, birth certificate issued in India, land or tenancy certificate, PAN document showing date of issue of the card, insurance policies, marriage certificate, school leaving certificate, among others, to prove their entry before 31 December 2014.
In addition, the home ministry had set the rules for the constitution of empowered committees from district to state level, which were to assess documents submitted by the applicants, and grant citizenship on the basis of their eligibility.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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