CAB, CAA, NRC & NPR #ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) is an act, passed by the Parliament of India, which amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to grant a swifter path to Indian citizenship under the assumption of religious persecution to any individual belonging to the specific minorities of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before 31 December 2014.

However, the Act does not mention Muslims and does not offer the same eligibility benefits to Muslim immigrants or immigrants belonging to other religions. The Act also does not mention any benefits for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are living in India, having fled persecution during the Sri Lankan Civil War.

The Act also seeks to relax the requirement of residence in India for citizenship by naturalization from 11 years to 5 years for migrants covered under the Act.

According to the Intelligence Bureau, the immediate beneficiaries of the new law will be 25,447 Hindus, 5,807 Sikhs, 55 Christians, 2 Buddhists and 2 Parsis.

This newly amended citizenship act (CAA) has aroused fear among Indian citizens that it will deny citizenship to the existing Muslim minority communities in India. The CAB bill aims to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities who faced religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The passing of the CAB bill raised a lot of questions like- what is CAA, how is it different from NRC, will it be discriminatory against the Muslim Community and will it lead to deportation of the minority communities from India. 

The Union Home Ministry released a set of answers to the frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the CAB bill on December 17, 2019 to clear the doubts surrounding the CAA law. The Ministry stated that the amended citizenship act will not affect any Indian citizen, including Muslims.  

Will the CAB bill affect Muslims?

The Home Ministry clarified that the Citizenship amendment act (CAA) will not affect any Indian citizen, including Muslims. The Ministry seeking to counter false claims and misinformation on the issue stated that all Indian citizens including Muslims enjoy the fundamental rights conferred by the Indian Constitution.

Why does CAA only include non-Muslim minorities?

The CAA is applicable only to the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Christian and Parsi minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who faced persecution on the basis of their religion. Only those minorities will gain benefit from the law who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The law does not apply to any other foreigners including Muslims, migrating to India from any other country.

Will illegal Muslim immigrants from the three countries be deported back under CAA?

The Home Ministry clarified that the CAA does not have anything to do with the deportation of any foreigner from India, irrespective of religion. The deportation process of a foreigner is implemented in India under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920. The Ministry reiterated that only these two laws govern the entry, stay and exit of all foreigners in India irrespective of their origin country or religion. Hence, the usual deportation process would continue to apply to any illegal foreigner staying in India.

What is the process of deportation of a foreigner?

The Ministry clarified that the deportation of any foreigner is done through a proper judicial process which includes a proper enquiry by the local police and concerned administrative authorities. The illegal foreigners are issued proper travel documents by the Embassy of their origin country so that they can be received by the officials thereafter deportation.

Clarifying on the deportation of illegal immigrants from Assam, the Home Ministry stated that the deportation from Assam will only happen after a person is determined as a foreigner under the Foreigners Act, 1946. The process will not be automatic, mechanical or discriminatory. The Ministry stated that all state governments have the power to detect, detain and deport any illegal foreigner under section 3 of the Foreigners Act and section 5 of Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920.

Will Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan never get Indian citizenship?

The Home Ministry clarified saying that the present legal process of acquiring Indian citizenship by any foreigner of any category through naturalisation or through registration will stay operational. The CAA does not amend or alter the process in any manner. The Ministry further stated that hundreds of Muslims migrating from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have been granted Indian citizenship previously in the last few years. Similarly, all future migrants will be given Indian citizenship irrespective of their religion if found eligible.

Can Hindus facing persecution in other countries besides these three nations apply for Indian citizenship under CAA?

The Home Ministry clarified that the Hindus facing religious persecution in any other country other than Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will not be eligible to apply for Indian citizenship under the CAA. They will be required to apply through the usual legal process of acquiring Indian citizenship just like any other foreigner. Such people will not be getting any preference under the citizenship act.

Will existing Indian citizens also need to apply for citizenship under CAA?

The Ministry clarified that the CAA does not apply to any Indian citizen at all. The Home Ministry stated that all the citizens of India enjoy the fundamental rights and the CAA is not meant to deprive any Indian citizen of his citizenship. The Ministry stated that it is a special law that will enable certain foreigners facing religious persecution in three neighbouring countries to get Indian citizenship.

Is there a link between the CAA and NRC?

The Home Ministry clarified that the CAA has nothing to do with the NRC. The Ministry stated that the legal provisions of NRC have been a part of the Citizenship Act, 1955 since December 2004. There are also specific statutory rules of 2003 to operationalize the legal provisions. The provisions govern the process of registration of Indian citizens and the issuance of national identity cards to them. The Ministry said that the CAA has not altered the legal provisions in any way and added saying that the appropriate rules under the CAA are being framed.

NATIONAL REGISTER OF CITIZENS (NRC)

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register of all Indian citizens whose creation is mandated by The Citizenship Act 1955 as amended in 2003. It has been implemented for the state of Assam in between 2013–2014. The government plans to implement it for the rest of India in 2021.

Assam, being a border state with unique problems of illegal immigration, an NRC for the state was created in 1951 based on the 1951 census data. But it was not maintained afterwards. In 1983, the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act was passed by the Parliament creating a separate tribunal process for identifying illegal migrants in Assam. The Supreme Court of India struck it down as unconstitutional in 2005, after which the Government of India agreed to update the Assam NRC.

Following unsatisfactory progress on the update process over a decade, the Supreme Court started directing and monitoring the process in 2013. The final updated NRC for Assam, published 31 August 2019, contained 31 million names out of 33 million populations, leaving out 1.9 million applicants. The 1.9 million residents who were not on the list, and were in danger of losing their citizenship; many of those affected were Bengali Hindus, who constitute a major voter base for the BJP. After the completion of the Assam NRC exercise, BJP did not find the results, meeting its expectations. BJP believed that several legitimate citizens were excluded while illegal migrants were included. The register was created because "illegal migration from Bangladesh has long been a concern" in Assam. The Amendment of the 1955 Citizenship Act, in part, helps protect non-Muslims who are not in the register and face arrest or deportation.

The ruling government of Bharatiya Janata Party has promised to implement the NRC for all of India in its election manifesto and during its speeches while campaigning for the 2019 General Election. On 19 November 2019, Home minister Amit Shah, declared in the Rajya Sabha of the Indian parliament that the NRC will be implemented throughout the country.

NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER (NPR)

The National Population Register (NPR) is a list of all the people residing in India and includes both the citizens and non-citizens as well. This definition is based on the statement by the Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju as a response in the Rajya Sabha that was released on 26 November 2014 by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. It stated that "the NPR is the first step towards creation of National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) by verifying the citizenship status of every usual resident.

Residents of a locality living there for at least six months with plans to continue their residence for another six months or more are included into the list of NPR. It is prepared as per the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 (passed by the BJP government under Vajpayee). The listing is done at the local (village/sub-town), sub-district, district, state and national level. Every "usual resident of India" is required to register in the NPR.

According to the Citizenship Rules, 2003, the centre can issue an order to prepare the NPR and create the NRC based on the data gathered in the NPR.[15] As per the 2003 Citizenship rules, the local officials would then decide if the person's name will be added to the NRC or not, thereby deciding his citizenship status. No new rules or laws are needed to conduct this exercise in the whole of India.

On 18 June 2014, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had given the directions "to take NPR project to its logical conclusion which is creation of National Register of Indian Citizens". Since 2014, the government has stated in the Parliament several times that the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) or NRC based on the data collected under the NPR, after the verification of the citizenship status of every individual.

In 2010, the NPR was created for the first time with the names of 119 crore residents of India. The NPR planned for 2020 will also include more details such as the place of birth of the parents, last place of residence, serial number for official documents.