In a significant development, the Central government officially announced the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on Monday.

Home Minister Amit Shah, in a social media post, revealed that the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, have been notified.

The CAA aims to provide citizenship to minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, persecuted on religious grounds in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, as reported.

Home Minister Amit Shah reportedly expressed that this move fulfills another commitment by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and realizes the promise of the Constitution’s makers to the mentioned communities living in the specified countries.

Additionally, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur clarified that the CAA is not designed to take away citizenship but to grant it.

Thakur emphasized that PM Modi has once again fulfilled a guarantee, from resolution to accomplishment, by issuing the notification for the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The Act opens the way for granting Indian citizenship and rehabilitation to minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.Applications for citizenship can now be submitted through an online portal, https://indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in, accompanied by a mobile application, CAA-2019, as informed.

The application process reportedly includes uploading required documents and photographs, subject to background checks by security agencies.

The empowered committee, led by the Director (Census Operations) in each state, will scrutinize applications at the district level, as reported.

The committee reportedly comprises officers from various agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau, Post Master General, and State or National Informatics Centre.

To prove eligibility under the CAA, applicants must provide an “eligibility certificate” from a locally reputed community institution and a set of documents indicating their date of birth and entry into India before December 31, 2014, as reported.

Furthermore, the rules reportedly exempt members of the specified communities from criminal cases under the Foreigners Act, 1946, and Passport Act, 1920, related to illegal entry and overstaying on expired visas.

However, certain parts of the northeast are exempted from the CAA, including the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, or Tripura, as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, and the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur.

The Home Ministry’s efforts to frame the rules faced delays, seeking at least 10 extensions from the parliamentary committee on subordinate legislation, as per reports.

With the official implementation of the CAA, the government as informed, aims to fulfill its commitment to providing a pathway to citizenship for persecuted minorities in neighboring countries.