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Citizenship Bill may benefit ‘declared foreigners’
Why in news?
- The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that will be introduced in Parliament soon is likely to benefit the non-Muslims who were declared illegal migrants by various Foreigners Tribunals in Assam.
- Protesters took to the streets across Assam against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti said it would move the Supreme Court if the Bill is passed in Parliament.
More in news
- CAB to Benefit Foreigners Tribunals(FT’s) declared Illegal Migrants in Assam:
(1) As per government data, from 1985 till Feb 28, 2019, as many as 63,959 persons were declared foreigners through ex parte (one-sided) proceedings by FTs in Assam.
(2) Redrafted Bill has a provision to abate “any proceedings pending against a person under this section in respect of illegal migration or citizenship before any authority including Foreigners Tribunals, courts, etc.”
(3) Bill aims to grant citizenship to undocumented non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
(4) As on Nov 22, 988 foreigners were lodged in six detention centres in Assam.
- Undocumented people
(1) Intelligence Bureau (IB) responding to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) query on the number of persons belonging to minority communities who would benefit from the proposed Amendment had said that 31,313 persons belonging to minority communities would be the immediate beneficiaries.
(2) Long Term visa:
(a) IB said there were 25,447 Hindus, 5807 Sikhs, 55 Christians, 2 Buddhists and 2 Parsis who have been given Long Term Visa (LTV) on the basis of their “claim of religious persecution in their respective countries and want Indian Citizenship.
(b) LTVs are a precursor to citizenship: visa facility was first introduced in 2011 for persecuted Hindus from Pakistan.
(c) The LTVs granted to Pakistani Hindus from 2011-2014 stood at 14,726.
(3) Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) told the JPC that “agencies who are inimical to us should not have a legal framework within which they can exploit our situation and infiltrate their own people into our own country. That is a matter of great concern”
- Protest in Assam:
(1) A massive rally was organised by several social and youth organisations and others in Assam demanding scrapping of the bill.
(2) Indigenous people of the Northeastern States fear that the entry of these people will endanger their identity & livelihood.
Sources
The Hindu