Govt to bring mechanism to give citizenship despite states' objections

New Delhi: The Centre will bring in a new mechanism to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in its bid to overcome the hurdles posed by some state governments, officials said. The rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are under consultation and will be finalised before the January 22 Supreme Court hearing on the matter, they said. The CMs of West Bengal, Punjab and Kerala, followed by those of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, had said their states would not implement CAA.

However, the powers to grant citizenship is vested with the central government, which in turn delegates responsibility to district magistrates or collectors in states. CAA also allows the Centre to set conditions, restrictions and the manner for the grant of certificate of citizenship, officials added. The application for citizenship will be accepted online and the verification conducted by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office along with local administration, thus reducing interface at the state level, they said. The documents will be uploaded online and the home ministry can monitor and track applications before granting citizenship.

However, identifying the religion of an asylum seeker without any documents will be one of the key challenges. “This is an area of concern vis-à-vis people claiming to be from the six communities but actually belonging to the excluded community and do not possess documents. The home ministry is examining this issue as it is not easy to ascertain one’s religion,” a top home ministry official said. The government is also ready to accept suggestions, if any, from the people and students who are staging protests against the Act, the official said. “We are open to receiving suggestions, if any, from anyone on the CAA. We are also trying to remove doubts of the people about the CAA through various ways,” he said, adding that the Citizenship Act and NRC were ''two entirely different issues.'