Citizenship Amendment Act
Why it Matters?
Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act have reignited in Assam after the Centre’s new exemption order allows non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan entering India till December 2024 to stay without documents.
What You Should Know?
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
It provides a path to Indian citizenship for persecuted non-Muslim minorities—Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians—from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
To qualify, applicants must have entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
The Act reduces the residency requirement for naturalisation from 11 years to 5 years for these groups.
It also protects them from being treated as illegal migrants or facing deportation.
The law does not apply to certain areas such as the Sixth Schedule tribal regions of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, and states under the Inner Line Permit system.
Assam Accord
The Assam Accord was signed on August 15, 1985, between the Government of India and leaders of the Assam Movement, including AASU.
The Accord fixed March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date:
Those who entered Assam before January 1, 1966 were to be recognized as Indian citizens.
Those who entered between January 1, 1966 and March 24, 1971 were to be detected, registered as foreigners, and given citizenship after 10 years (but barred from voting during that period).
Those who entered on or after March 25, 1971 were to be detected and deported.