Facts over fiction #CAA

1920-1946 The concern for the rapidly increasing amounts of refugees, arriving from East Bengal and later the newly formed East Pakistan following the Noakhali riots, created tension among the Indigenous Assamese people and many tribes in the state

1946 The Foreigners Act comes into place and defines a foreigner as a person who is not a citizen of India. When the nationality of a person is not evident, the burden of providing the proofs shall lie upon the person.

1950 The constitution of India is formed, that guarantees citizenship to all of the country's residents.

1951 UN treaty on refugee convention is signed to provide protection to people at risk of persecution in their own countries. Refugee, here is defined as someone who's persecuted for being a member of a minority group(race, religion, membership of a particular social group, political opinion) in their country. They are allowed to enter a country without the passport and other documents. All others, without documents, are considered as an illegal immigrant.

India is not a signatory in the document.

1951 The NRC for the state of Assam is created based on the 1951 census data as Assam had it's own unique problems of illegal immigration. But it was not maintained afterwards.

1955 Citizenship act is formed that demands for the compulsory registration of every Indian citizen(NRC) and issuance of a National Identity Card. This act was ammended in 1986, 1992, 2003, 2005 and 2015 and 2019.

1978 In midst of a re-election election in Assam,it was observed, that the list of the registered voters had grown dramatically. All Assam Students’Union (AASU) demanded that the elections be postponed till the names of the foreign nationals were deleted from the electoral rolls.

1979-1985 A six-year long agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal foreign immigrants was launched by the All Assam Students Union and claimed the lives of at least 860 people who were in the hopes of an infiltration free Assam. It culminated with the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985.

1983- Indira Gandhi decided to hold the controversial state elections despite the stiff opposition in the midst of the Assam Agitation. As a fallout 2,191 muslim immigrants and 100-500 hindu immigrants were killed by the agitators in the Nellie and Khoirabari massacares respectively.

In October, the ILLEGAL MIGRANTS(DETERMINATION BY TRIBUNAL) ACT was passed by the Parliament to provide protection to the "minorities" affected by the Assam agitation. It described the procedure to detect and expell illegal migrants from Assam, to be different from the other states, where it is done under, The Foriegners Act 1946. Under this bill, the burden of proving a citizenship or otherwise rested on the accuser and the police, not the accused. It was struck down in 2005 by the supreme court for being unconstitutional.

1985 On 15th august, The Assam accord was signed, an agreement between the AASU and the govt. to curb illegal immigration in Assam. Detection, deletion from the electoral polls and their deportation were the key elements of this accord.

1986 The citizenship Act was amended to classify the immigrants in Assam:

1) Those who came before 1966( were to be given citizenship) 2) Those who came between 1966- 24 march 1971 (were to be disenfranchised and granted citizenship after due process) 3) Those who came after 25 march 1971 (were to be detected and deported)

1992 The citizenship act was amended to include a person born outside of India if either of his/her parents were Indian. Before this, it was only granted to those born from Indian males.

2003 The Citizenship Rules were framed under the Citizenship Act of 1955. It prescribed the manner of preparation of the NRC with a special provision for the state of Assam,i.e, the procedures and rules for the NRC in assam would be different than in the whole country.

2005 The Supreme Court of India held that the IMDT Act, 1983, is the main impediment or barrier in the identification and deportation of illegal migrants and struck down the Act. After which the Government of India agreed to update the Assam NRC. The citizenship act Rules regarding Overseas Citizen of India cardholders were amended.

2009 The citizenship amendment seeked to include a separate column in the citizenship form for applicants belonging to six minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

2013 The Supreme court of India starts monitoring and directing the process after following unsatisfactory progress on the updates in the Assam NRC.

2015 The citizenship act is amended to make technical changes and make it easier to get the indian citizenship. For example in place of the words "has been residing in India for one year", the words "is ordinarily resident in India for twelve months" was substituted .

2019 The act is amended in 2019 to differentiate between a refugee and an illegal immigrant from three countries; Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are allowed to apply for the permanent citizenship and relaxes the requirements for residents from 11 years to 6 years Bangladeshi and Pakistani refugees would be exempted from the requirements of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Foreigners Act, 1946.

FAQs-

Why are muslims excluded in the CAA?

It defines refugee and illegal immigrant according to the international law. Since Indian constitution does not define a refugee and is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, all those without valid Indian citizenship or visas are classified as illegal immigrants. And so, Particular groups such as Tibetian and Sri lankan families had to be granted the title of "legal refugees" under the Indian law to allow them to stay. But it did not allow them to apply for the citizenship and they have to return when things in their country get better.

How do I prove my lineage counting back to 1971?

There would be no need to prove one’s pre-1971 ancestry or any compulsion to submit documents of one’s parents or ancestors during the exercise. In the case of Assam, NRC was done with a 1971 cut-off date based on the Assam Accord.

What documents are needed to prove citizenship in the pan India NRC?

For the rest of the country, the NRC process is under The Citizenship Rules(2003) in which there are five ways for somebody to become a citizen, which are citizenship by birth,registration, descent, naturalization, and incorporation. It is still being drafted but it won't be premature to say that voter I-cards, passports, Aadhaar, licences, insurance papers, birth certificates, school-leaving certificates, documents relating to land or home or similar documents issued by government officials, or even more, would be accepted as proofs of citizenship.

What about the poor people who have no documents? If somebody is "illiterate" and has no documents, witness and community verification will be allowed during the exercise to ensure that no Indian citizen is troubled.It also asserted that any NRC will not exclude anyone for being transgender, atheist, adivasi, Dalit, or landless without documents.

By Akshit Jakhmola

Disclaimer: Facts mentioned above have been double checked by realshepower. If you still find any discrepancy please contact us on realshepower@gmail.com

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