“NRC and CAA In A Nutshell”

NRC (National Register of Citizens) and CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) is the most debated topics of this time. You must be aware of the chaos it created. Do you know the exact definition of NRC and CAA. The newly introduced bill CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill) became an act in a short span and is attracting huge protest. Let’s see what lies inside the CAA and NRC.

Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)

Main provisions

• It seeks to allow illegal migrants from certain minority communities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenshipby amending the Citizenship Act of 1955.
• It seeks to grant citizenship to people from minority communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians —after 6 years of stay in India even if they do not possess any proper document. The current requirement is 12 years of stay.
• The Bill provides that the registration of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders may be cancelled if they violate any law.
• The Bill, however, does not extend to illegal Muslim migrants. It also does not talk about other minority communities in the three neighbouring countries, such as Jews, Bahais etc.

Why it is needed?

There are thousands of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis who have entered India after facing religious persecution in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan without any valid document.
These refugees have been facing difficulty in getting Long Term Visa (LTV) or Citizenship.

The existing Citizenship law does not allow anyone granting Indian nationality if he or she can not show proof of documents on country of birth and therefore they have to stay at least 12 years in India.
Those Hindus who are persecuted due to religion has no other place to go except India.

Concerns

• CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) introduced religion as a new principle into the citizenship law. By marking out Muslims as a residual category, it reiterates the narrative of partition, without incorporating the principles of inclusion which were present in both the constitution of India and the Citizenship Act of 1955 at its inception.
• It is said to have non-secular in nature which is in other word goes against constitutional morality. It violates the basic tenets of the Constitution. Illegal immigrants are distinguished on the basis of religion.The Bill makes illegal migrants eligible for citizenship on the basis of religion. This may violate Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees the right to equality.
• It is perceived to be a demographic threat to indigenous communities.
• It attempts to naturalise the citizenship of illegal immigrants in the region.

What is NRC?

NRC is the National Register of Citizens. The NRC identified illegal immigrants from different regions. It was recently been implemented in Assam and has been speculated to be a nation-wide process soon as per the Home Minister Amit Shah. The people who will have the document proof do not have to worry about. The documents needed for the same is:

List A documents includes;

1. Electoral rolls upto March 25, 1971

2. NRC of 1951

3. Land and tenancy records

4. Citizenship certificate

5.Permanent resident certificate

6.Passport

7.Bank or LIC documents

8. Permanent Residential Certificate

9.Educational certificates and court order records

10.Refugee Registration Certificate

List B documents includes;

1. Land documents

2. Board or university certificates

3. Birth certificate

4. Bank/LIC/post office records

5. Ration card

6. Electoral rolls

7. Other legally acceptable documents

8. A circle officer or gram panchayat secretary certificate for married women

Why it is needed?

• NRC is nation wide protest that will help our nation to decrease the financial burden by eliminating illegal migrants from our nation.
• It will also help in creating a nation-wide census.
• It will help in smooth administration.
• NRC is also good for the proper resource allocation among our people.
• It will help in strengthening national security of our nation

Concerns

• It is a costly process.
• It can create an unnecessary chaos

You may also like to read:

• Weekly Current Affairs One-Liners | 16th to 22nd December 2019
• GK CAPSULES (PDF)