Government amends CAA guidelines on documents to prove foreign origin
The requirement under Schedule 1A has been expanded to include any document issued by the State or the Central government or any quasi-judicial authority in India
The Home Ministry has amended a provision of the Rules of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 that required applicants seeking citizenship to submit a document by any government authority in Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan establishing their roots in these countries.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended a provision of the Rules of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) that required applicants seeking citizenship to submit a document by any government authority in Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan establishing their roots in these countries. CAA requires applicants to declare that they are foreigners.
The requirement under Schedule 1A, or the list of nine documents issued by any government authority in the three countries to prove that the applicant, or their ancestors, is/are a national of Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, has been expanded to include any document issued by the State or the Central government or any quasi-judicial authority in India. An “etc.” (et cetera) has been added in the order which would give discretion to government officials while processing CAA applications if there are any shortcomings in the documents. The CAA Rules also enable local priests or a “locally reputed community institution” to issue the mandatory certificates certifying the faith of an applicant. CAA facilitates citizenship to six non-Muslim communities from the three countries who entered India before December 31, 2014.
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Central government officials belonging to Directorate of Census, postal department, railways, National Informatics Centre and Intelligence Bureau have been informed by MHA that “CAA is a facilitative law and its spirit has to be understood while processing the applications.”
A July 8 communication sent by the Foreigners Division of MHA to Director, Census Operations, and other departments said, “It may be clarified that the documents under Sr. No. 8 of the Schedule IA may include any document issued by the Central Government/State Government/any Judicial or Quasi Judicial body in India such as land record, judicial order etc., identifying or representing that the applicant or their parents or grandparents or great grandparents had been a national of Afghanistan or Bangladesh or Pakistan.”
The letter accessed by The Hindu stated that the “Ministry has been receiving numerous queries requesting to clarify as to what type of documents may be accepted from the applicants against Sr. No. 8 of the Schedule IA of the Citizenship Rules, 2024.”
“The above clarification may taken note of while deciding any citizenship application under CAA, 2019,” the letter said.
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The provision that has been replaced said, “Any documents that shows that either of the parents or grandparents or great grandparents of the applicant is or had been a citizen of one of the three countries i.e. of Afghanistan or Bangladesh or Pakistan.”
The Hindu reported on July 6 that MHA is all set to amend the provision amid several requests and concerns raised by probable beneficiaries, particularly in West Bengal who came from Bangladesh without any documents. A large number of people took refuge in India in the aftermath of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War with bare belongings.
CAA failed to give expected benefits to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha election as the confusion around the Rules and Trinamool Congress campaign that applying under the law would turn applicants into refugees once again proved counterproductive. Most potential benefactors in West Bengal possess election cards and passports.
Though the exact numbers are not known, in West Bengal, there are around 2.8 crore people from the Matua and Namasudra communities, who stand to benefit from CAA.
Schedule 1A has not been a problem for Hindu migrants from Pakistan as most entered India on valid documents such as passports and visas.
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In December 2019, the Citizenship Act, 1955 was amended to facilitate citizenship through registration and naturalisation to undocumented migrants belonging to six non-Muslim communities — Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian— from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, and reduced the period to qualify for citizenship from the existing requirement of continuous stay of 11 years to five years.
The Rules enabling the implementation of the Act were notified on March 11, days before the general elections were announced.
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Citizenship Amendment Act