CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT BILL 2019

CITIZENSHIP ACT 1955 [Act no. 57 of 1955]

This act provided the citizenship of India to the people at the time India received freedom and got its own constitution . The citizenship of India could have been acquired in 5 ways at that time according to Act no. 57 of 1955.

1.Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution of India
2.Citizenship by birth
3.Citizenship by Descent
4.Citizenship by registration
5.Citizenship by naturalization

AMENDMENTS SINCE THEN

After the bill was introduced in 1955 it has been amended 8 times. 

The major amendment being made in 2016 when the period of naturalization was reduced from 12 years to 6 years. Which means that a person to become a citizen of India naturally he/she has to reside in India for a period of 6 years which was previously 12 years.

Now the bill is being amended another time and the changes being made this time are:

1. The amendment bill 2019 states that a person who is refugee of Afghanistan, Pakistan           and Bangladesh can get the citizenship of India.

2. Provided he/she is a Hindu, Parsi, Sikh,Christian,Buddhists other than Muslim and Tamil      refugee from Sri lanka.

3.The Bill also proposes to incorporate a sub-section (d) to Section 7, providing for                   cancellation of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration where the OCI card-holder           has violated any provision of the Citizenship Act or any other law in force.

THE IDEA OF AMENDING IT

The bill was election promise made by BJP during 2014 and 2019 election rallies . The bill is aimed to contain the basic Hindutva ideology of the nation that shows Sarva Dharma Sambhav spirit of India.

WHAT IS CAB 2019 FINALLY??

• The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, that seeks to give Indian nationality to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan was passed in the Lok Sabha on 9 August. 

• The bill seeks to address the historical wrongdoings of religious persecution on Non-Muslim refugees from the three states by providing them Indian citizenship. 

• The proposed legislation amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis who got into India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for India.

Who is eligible?

• The proposed legislation applies to those who were “forced or compelled to seek shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of religion”.It aims to protect such people from proceedings of illegal migration. 
• The cut-off date for citizenship is December 31, 2014 which means the applicant should have entered India on or before that date.

Any exceptions to the Bill?

• CAB won't apply to areas under the sixth schedule of the Constitution – which deals with autonomous tribal-dominated regions in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. 

• The bill will also not apply to states that have the inner-line permit regime like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.

Why is there such a hue and cry?

The opposition says the Bill violates Article 14 of the Constitution — the Right to Equality. They claim that citizenship cannot be given on the basis of religion.

HIDDEN AGENDA OF OPPOSITION

The bill has drawn criticism over the fact that it violates the Article 14 stating Right to equality. The opposition is holding protest with dead spirits as they are lacking numbers to stop the passing of bill in Lok sabha and Rajya sabha. The only thing they want to make out from here is Politics in face of opposing it with none really concerned with refugees and only using them as a prop for their votes. By spreading misinformation that the bill bring changes in the culture and demographics of the north eastern states they just want to destabilize the government there. Without paying attention to the facts that most of the north eastern states fall under exception category where bill is not applicable.

MY VIEWS OVER SITUATION

The situation appears to be normal to people but the real problem is in north eastern states where false information is being spread in the name of the bill to incite the people against the government for mere politics. If the information is not channelized properly in North eastern states then it may lead to mass protests. 

But  the question is - Is the bill fair or not??  Will lead to different answers if thought with different ideologies. Therefore I leave the choice whether the decision is right or not on the reader by analyzing the facts and points given in this article.

Hope you all reach answers:)

JAI HIND JAI BHARAT

The Afghan Peace Talks

Taliban are a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement and military organization in Afghanistan currently waging war (an insurgency, or jihad) within Afghanistan. Taliban was Founder by Mohammed Omar in 1994.

How Was Taliban Formed?

After the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan in 1979, Islamic mujahedeen fighters engaged in war with those Soviet forces. Some of those Islamic fighters would later transform into the Taliban according to Professor Carole Hillenbrand who stated: "The West helped the Taliban to fight the Soviet takeover of Afghanistan"

Although there isn't any evidence that the CIA directly supported the Taliban or Al Qaeda, some basis for military support of the Taliban was provided when, in the early 1980s, the CIA and the ISI provided arms to Afghans resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the ISI assisted the process of gathering radical Muslims from around the world to fight against the Soviets. Osama Bin Laden was one of the key players in organizing training camps for the foreign Arab volunteers, although his organization, Maktab al-Khidamat, was exclusively Saudi funded.

A power vacuum created by After the withdrawal of Soviet troop from Afghanistan in 1989. the country was torn apart by warring mujahedeen groups and the ISI of Pakistan grasped the chance to wield power in the region by fostering a previously unknown Kandahari student movement. They continued to support the Taliban, as Pakistani allies, in their push to conquer Afghanistan in the 1990s.

USA In Picture.

Marines In Afghanistan

The USA has been fighting it's longest war in Afghanistan since 2001 with no concrete results. This came at a cost of thousands of civilian as well as military lives and billions of dollars to the US exchequer. The Taliban have been refusing talks for the last 17 years with the government, in the hopes of recapturing Kabul. This hasn't been the case so far as the institutions in the country have become stronger than before, with a strong Afghan army and police along with foreign troops. Even though they have been able to conduct many high profile attacks in the country, they are yet to establish a proper base in the major cities. There is not a single provincial capital over which they have complete control.

After the US Army overthrew the Taliban in 2001 and established a legitimate government, the country has taken rapid strides in societal reforms. The enrollment of girls in schools has increased, and there is a significant proportion of female politicians in both the lower and upper houses of the parliament. The withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014 also discredited the Afghan cause for war as it is now seen as perpetuating the war. All this led to very low support for the Taliban from the Afghan population. now seen as perpetuating the war. All this led to very low support for the Taliban from the Afghan population.

Why Is USA Talking Now?

Who Controls What?

The US has been fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2001. According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in October 2007, the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost $3 trillion by 2018. 

Things are getting out of control for US. The only thing US government is doing is, wasting its capital in Afghanistan. So now they have started withdrawing their forces. And after the a proper agreement with Taliban US will completely withdraw the forces.

Peace Talks

• The US and Taliban have reached an in principal agreement on a framework for complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, according to America official. The US representative said that the Taliban would prevent its territory from being used for terrorism.

• The American withdrawal from the region could lead to the destabilization of the Afghani government, the Taliban has refused to acknowledge the government of Ashraf Ghani.

• The Americans have been pressurizing the Taliban to talk to the government directly, but the Taliban has insisted on finalizing a date of troop withdrawal before beginning negotiation with the Afghan Government.

• The US withdrawal also concerns Pakistan as it may lead to a strengthening of the Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban, who took refuge in Afghanistan, killed 132 children in an army school in Peshawar in 2014.

• India also has a presence in the country after the construction of strategic Chabahar port in Iran ond the highway that link it ti Kabul. The bilateral trade between the nation is poised to cross $2 billion by 2020.