Union Cabinet clears Citizenship (Amendment) Bill

The Union Cabinet has cleared the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Briefing media in New Delhi after the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar said, the bill takes care of India's interest, and it will be introduced in Parliament as soon as possible.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants of six communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship. The communities are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. The legislation relaxes the 11-year



criteria for citizenship to six years for persons belonging to these six religions. The bill was passed by the last Lok Sabha but it could not be taken up in the Rajya Sabha. Now, it is expected to be taken up during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament. Opposition parties like Congress, TMC and the Left have already objected to the provisions of the bill.

On Tuesday, senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had asked party MPs to be present in large numbers in Parliament when the bill is tabled. He said the bill as an important legislation.