Explainer: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019
Distilled Policy Brief
- For the specified class of illegal migrants, the residency requirement for naturalisation is reduced from 11 years to five years, and upon acquiring citizenship, pending legal proceedings against them regarding their illegal status will be closed.
- The proposed amendments explicitly exempt the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura under the Sixth Schedule, as well as areas governed by the Inner Line Permit under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations 1873.
🎯 Prelims High-Yield Examination Points
Key aspects of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 include reducing naturalisation residence requirements from 11 to 5 years for specific communities from three nations and exempting Sixth Schedule areas and Inner Line Permit regions.
⚖️ Mains Analytical & Syllabus Linkages
Analyze the constitutional interplay between equal protection under Article 14, executive discretion in conferring citizenship, and regional cultural protections under the Sixth Schedule and Inner Line Permit.
🎯 UPSC Prelims Practice Drill
With reference to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, consider the following statements: 1. It reduces the residency requirement for naturalisation from 11 years to 5 years for specified classes of illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. 2. The provisions of the Bill relating to the acquisition of citizenship by these specified migrants are applicable uniformly across all states and Union Territories of India without any exceptions. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- [A] 1 only
- [B] 2 only
- [C] Both 1 and 2
- [D] Neither 1 nor 2
▶ Reveal Official Answer & Analytical Explanation
Statement 1 is correct because the Bill relaxes the residency requirement for naturalisation from 11 years to 5 years for the specified class of illegal migrants belonging to certain religious communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Statement 2 is incorrect because the amendments explicitly exempt the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura under the Sixth Schedule, as well as areas governed by the Inner Line Permit under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, 1873.
🏛️ Historical Twin PYQ Anchor (2021)
Consider the following statements regarding the "National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)": 1. It is implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. 2. Central Pollution Control Board acts as the sole regulatory executive body.