‘3,117 non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan granted Indian citizenship since 2018’
Altogether 8,244 non-Muslim persons from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan had applied for Indian citizenship in the last four years and of them, 3,117 were granted citizenship, India's junior minister for Home Nityanand Rai told the Rajya Sabha today.
"The number of citizenship applications received from Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Christian minority groups from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan during the year 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 is 8,244," he said in a written reply at Rajya Sabha.
He said all foreign nationals are governed by the Foreigners Act, 1946, the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Rai gave the figures on the last day of the winter session of parliament in response to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) lawmaker K Keshava Rao's question regarding the total number of citizenship applications received from people belonging to minority groups -- Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Christian -- in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan between 2018 and 2021.
Replying to a separate question by lawmaker Abdul Wahab on the pending applicants for Indian citizenship, Rai said there were 161 applications pending from Bangladesh, 1,152 from Afghanistan, 428 from stateless people, 223 from Sri Lanka and USA, and 189 from Nepal till December 14 this year.
He also said ten individuals from China had applied for Indian citizenship, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
The Indian government had in 2019 introduced in parliament the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
The CAA had sparked violent street protests in Assam, other north-eastern states and several other parts of India between 2019 and 2020.
The government said in July this year that there will be a delay in the implementation of CAA and an extension has been sought till January nine next year for this.
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