Ahead of the announcement of dates for the Lok Sabha (LS) elections by the Election Commission of India, the Centre on Tuesday notified the rules for implementing the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), four years and three months after Parliament passed it on December 11, 2019.

The law will enable the government to grant Indian nationality to persecuted religious minorities — Hindus, Jains, Parsis, Christians, Buddhists, and Sikhs — from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who had come to India until December 31, 2014.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has prepared a web portal for the applicants’ convenience, as the entire process will be online, a spokesperson for MHA said. 

The law will also ensure economic, commercial, free movement, and property purchase rights for these migrants.

Sources said many misconceptions have been spread about CAA, but the law is designed to give citizenship and “will not take away the citizenship of any Indian citizen, irrespective of religion”.  

The law is only for those who have suffered persecution for years and have no other shelter in the world except India, they said.

RULE BOOK  

- MHA has launched online portal for applicants seeking Indian citizenship

- 30 DMs, home secretaries of 9 states have been vested with powers for the same

- Parliament had passed CAA on December 11, 2019

- It provides citizenship to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh