Citizenship Amendment Bill cleared by Union Cabinet

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the Citizenship Amendment Bill on Wednesday, 4th December 2019.

The bill will now be presented in the Parliament, likely to be tabled in the lower house of the parliament Lok Sabha for clearance in the ongoing winter session.

The bill seeks an amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955. To date, the Citizenship Act 1955 was presented only once before the parliament for amendment in the year 2016, however, the citizenship amendment bill 2016 lapsed on 3rd June 2019 as the term of the 16th Lok Sabha ended.

The Amendment bill of 2019 seeks to grant Indian citizenship to six communities – Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who arrived or came to India on or before 31st December 2014.