The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced on Wednesday that it had issued citizenship certificates to a total of 14 applicants under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla personally handed over these certificates to the recipients in the capital city, as stated in an official press release by the MHA.
It is apt to mention that the Central government had formally notified the rules for implementing the CAA on March 11, 2024. After a very long time, the law had been lying in abeyance.
Under the CAA, persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian communities of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, who had come to India before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution, had been eligible to apply for citizenship.
An Empowered Committee headed by the Director of Census Operation scrutinized the applications in detail and thereafter cleared citizenship for the 14 eligible candidates.
CAA, that seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, was legislated in Parliament in 2019.
However, soon after its enactment, the law had become highly controversial, and massive protests had erupted throughout the country.
Firstly, the protests had turned violent, and then the eruption of the Covid-19 pandemic had further delayed the implementation of CAA.
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