New Delhi: When the nation is burning in the fire of protests against the newly implemented Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, the Indian government has come forward to clear the air over the CAA and the NRC, stating that those who are born before July 1 1987, or whose parents were born before, are Indian citizens according to law and they need not worry about the NRC.
A government official has cleared that according to 2004 amendments of the citizenship act, people of the country, except those in Assam, whose one parent is an Indian and neither is an illegal immigrant, are also considered Indian citizen. Amid protests nationwide, the government has tried to clear that anyone born in India before July 1, 1987 are bona fide Indian citizens according to law and they need not worry due to the Citizenship Amendment Act or a possible countrywide NRC, while in the case of Assam the cut off date for identification of an Indian citizen is 1971.
The clarification came amid ongoing protests against the CAA and several versions of the recently enacted law being circulated in social media. The responsible officials have also said that it was premature to say anything on rolling out the NRC for the whole country. "There has been no discussion about it and so therefore no citizen of India should be worried about the NRC for the CAA 2019," stated officials.
The Act:
It is to be mentioned that the Citizenship Amendment Act makes it easier for the immigrants from India's neighbours, Pakistan Bangladesh and Afghanistan, to become citizens of India. The Act entitles Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains, Parsis and Christians, facing religious persecution in the three nations to seek Indian citizenship, but it somehow highlights the exclusion of Muslims. According to the act refugees of the six communities will be given Indian citizenship after residing in India for 6 years instead of 11 years-- that was a condition before.
The ongoing protests: