What is CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act)?

What is CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act)?, Why are Muslim communities opposing CAA?

Citizenship Amendment Act: The Union Home Ministry has today issued the notification of the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA). After the release of the notification, CAA laws have now come into force across the country. After the implementation of the law, the central government will start granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians, who arrived from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014.

What is CAA?

• The full form of CAA is Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 is a law under which six religious minorities (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians) who came to India from three neighboring countries Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 2014 will be given citizenship.
• The Union Home Ministry has issued the notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 on March 11, 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The CAA rules aim to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians.
• Indian citizenship will be available only to those who had taken refuge in India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014. Only people from these three countries will be eligible to apply for citizenship.
• The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 was passed in Parliament in December 2019. After this the CAA law was approved by the President. However, after getting approval from the President, protests against CAA were also held in various states of the country.
• The rules of CAA were already prepared and the application process for it has been kept completely online. The applicant will not require any additional documents for the application. The application process will be completely online. Applicants will have to indicate when they came to India.
• During the last two years, more than 30 District Magistrates and Home Secretaries of nine states were empowered under the Citizenship Act 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Went.
• According to the Home Ministry's annual report for 2021, 1414 persons from non-Muslim minority communities coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were granted Indian citizenship through registration or naturalization under the Citizenship Act 1955 between April 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. Went.
• Indian citizens have no concern with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019. Indians have the right to citizenship under the Constitution. CAA law cannot take away Indian citizenship.
• Home Minister Amit Shah had introduced it in the Lok Sabha on 9 December. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA) was passed in Parliament on 11 December 2019. 125 votes were cast in favor of CAA and 105 votes were cast against it. It got the approval of the President on 12 December 2019.
• The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 (CAA) was introduced in the year 2016. In this, changes were to be made in the 1955 law. In which citizenship was to be given to non-Muslim refugees coming from India's three neighboring countries Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee in August 2016 and the committee submitted its report on 7 January 2019.

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Why are Muslim communities opposing CAA?

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Only after the CAA law was passed, people and organizations of the Muslim community created a huge uproar. Protests were held in many parts of the country. Now, after the implementation of CAA law, Muslim society and organizations have once again started opposing it. Statements against this law have started coming from many Muslim leaders.

Muslim society believes that it is wrong to exclude Muslims from this law. This is against the right to equality and will harm the unity and integrity of the country. At the same time, some Muslim organizations say that Muslims can be harassed on the pretext of CAA. Along with this, many Muslim organizations believe that CAA can change the demography of the North-Eastern states.

Who will get citizenship under CAA rules?

Under the new CAA laws, the Modi government will start granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants - Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians - who came from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014. It is noteworthy that CAA was passed in December 2019 and it got the approval of the President. However, the law has not yet been implemented and rules are necessary for its implementation.

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