The Indian government notified on Monday the enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 (CAR). This move is in accordance with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), a controversial legislation aimed at amending the laws that govern citizenship in India. The CAA was devised to facilitate persecuted religious minorities in obtaining Indian citizenship, although it pointedly excludes Muslim immigrants. The government has also declared that the application procedure under the new regulations will completely shift online, with a web portal provided for this purpose. The notification about these developments was made available on Monday.
The information was shared via the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Spokesperson’s X (formerly Twitter) account, which stated that the CAR will allow persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for Indian citizenship, with all applications to be submitted in a completely online mode on the provided web portal.
These changes were further highlighted by India’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, who shared the CAR and the web portal via his X (formerly Twitter) account. He enthused about the realization of a longstanding commitment by the Modi government to help minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan acquire Indian citizenship.
Nonetheless, the CAA has attracted criticism for its discriminatory nature. Specifically, it provides a pathway to Indian citizenship for undocumented migrants from six religious minorities (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian) from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India pre-2015. Critics contest this law as discriminatory against Muslims, arguing that it is in violation of the secular principles crucial to the Constitution of India.
In related news, the Indian government deported seven Rohingya immigrants to Myanmar last Friday for allegedly entering India illegally.