New Delhi: The Central Government on Tuesday launched new portal, indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in, for people applying for citizenship under CAA-2019.
Besides portal, government will launch mobile app 'CAA-2019' to facilitate applications. "The Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 under the CAA-2019 have been notified. A new portal has been launched, persons eligible under CAA-2019 can apply for citizenship on this portal indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in," the MHA official said.
The Centre on Monday notified the rules of the contentious CAA before the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The Ministry of Home Affairs had made it clear that the applications would be submitted in a completely online mode.
The CAA rules, notified after four years of passing the new law in December 2019, will start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The rules comes into force with immediate effect.
The announcement, made on Monday, was due as Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently asserted that the CAA would be notified before the Lok Sabha elections. According to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, the rules for any legislation should be framed within six months of presidential assent or the government has to seek an extension from the Committees on Subordinate Legislation in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Since 2020, the Home Ministry has been taking extensions at regular intervals from the parliamentary committee for framing the rules.
Union Minister Amit Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has delivered on another commitment and realised the promise of the makers of the Constitution. "These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for the grant of Indian citizenship," a Home Ministry spokesperson said.
