‘Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019’ has been passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, 2019.
The bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The bill was first introduced in Parliament in 2016 and was examined later by the Joint Parliamentary Committee.
It enables grant of Indian nationality to people from minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after 6 years of residence in India instead of 12 even if they don’t possess any proper document.
It also nullifies the 1985 Assam Accord, under which any foreign national, irrespective of religion, who had entered the state after March 25, 1971, should be deported.