CAA Rules 2024 notified

• The government officially notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, signalling a significant development in India’s citizenship framework.

ABOUT CITIZENSHIP (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019

• The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) is a legislative enactment that the Parliament of India passed on December 11, 2019 to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955.
• This amendment allowed for the grant of Indian citizenship to religious minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, who fled from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan due to religious persecution or fear thereof before December 2014.
• Under the CAA 2019 amendment, migrants who entered India by December 31, 2014, were eligible for fast-track Indian citizenship.
• The amendment reduced the residence requirement for naturalisation from eleven years to five.

About CAA rules 2024

• The rules, in line with the 2019 amendment to The Citizenship Act, 1955, aim to provide citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian communities who entered India before December 31, 2014, from Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh.
• An online system for application, processing, and grant of citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is being explored by the Home Ministry.
• Eligible applicants include individuals of Indian origin, spouses of Indian citizens, minor children of Indian citizens, individuals with registered Indian citizen parents, and Overseas Citizens of India Cardholders, among others.
• Exemption
  • The amendments introduced by CAA do not apply to areas covered by the Constitution’s sixth schedule.
    • These are the autonomous tribal-dominated regions in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
    • This means migrants belonging to the identified communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan based on religion can’t be given Indian citizenship if they are residents in these areas.
  • CAA also does not apply to states with an inner-line permit (ILP) regime — primarily in North-East India.