31 district magistrates are allowed to give citizenship to non-Muslims: centre

New Delhi:

The central government has authorized 31 district magistrates in nine states to grant citizenship to people belonging to minority communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh under the Citizenship Act, according to state interior minister Nityanand Rai.

The delegation of this power is aimed at expediting the citizenship applications of such foreigners as decisions can now be taken at the district level itself after examining each case, Mr Rai said in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

These districts were chosen keeping in mind the needs of applicants, he said.

“The Central Government, in exercising the powers conferred by section 16 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, has exercised its power to grant citizenship by registration under section 5 and by naturalization under section 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 delegated to the collectors of 31 districts… for the expeditious processing of citizenship applications of persons belonging to minority communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, namely Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians,” Mr. Rai said.

The 31 districts are located in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi.

The move to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and not under the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) is an important one.

The CAA also provides for granting Indian citizenship to these non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, the rules under the CAA have not yet been drafted by the government and hence no one has been granted Indian citizenship so far.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)