News Brief
Centre Likely To Notify CAA Rules Today: Report
Home Minister Amit Shah. (image via X)
The Union Home Ministry is likely to notify the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules by today (11 March), news agency ANI reported citing sources.
The Citizenship Amendment Act was enacted by Parliament in 2019 but is yet to be implemented as the rules were not notified by the government.
The CAA aims to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted minority groups such as Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India on or prior to 31 December 2014.
Earlier in January this year, a senior government official had said that the CAA rules will be notified before the announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by the Election Commission.
There were massive protests in some parts of the country after the CAA was passed by Parliament in December 2019 and received presidential assent subsequently.
Delayed by more than four years, rules for the CAA are a must for its implementation.
"The rules are ready and the online portal is also in place, and the entire process will be online. The applicants will have to declare the year when they entered India without travel documents. No document will be sought from the applicants," the official had said.
Earlier on 27 December last year, Union Home Minister said that no one can stop the implementation of the CAA as it is the law of the land and accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading people on the issue.
Addressing a party meeting in Kolkata, Shah said it was the BJP's commitment to implement the CAA. The TMC, led by Mamata Banerjee, has been opposing the CAA.
