The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday invited applications for the citizenship of India from non-Muslims like Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists belonging to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and currently living in the districts of Jalore, Udaipur, Pali, Barmer, and Sirohi in Rajasthan, Durg and Balodabazar in Chhattisgarh, Morbi, Rajkot, Patan and Vadodara in Gujarat, Faridabad in Haryana and Jalandhar in Punjab.
The Central Government has issued a notification in this effect for immediate execution of the order under the Citizenship Act 1955 and Rules given under the 2009 Amendment Act.
The official notification reads, “In pursuant with the powers given under section 16 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, the union government hereby orders that the powers exercisable by it for registration as a citizen of the country under Section 5, or for issuance of the certificate of naturalization under section 6 of the Citizenship Act 1955 in respect of any person belonging to the minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan namely Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis, residing in the districts mentioned and the states mentioned.”
However, this fresh notification is in no way related to the Citizenship Amendment Act enacted in 2019. The guidelines under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 are yet to be framed by the union government.
