The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed Parliament that it had sought six more months to frame rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said, “The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been requested to grant further extension of time upto 09.01.2022 to frame the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.”
He was replying to a question from Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on whether the government had missed the deadline to frame and notify CAA rules and the steps taken in this context.
This is the fifth extension sought by the government for framing these rules. The CAA came into force on January 10, 2020. The CAA allows persecuted minorities belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to avail of Indian citizenship.
People belonging to these communities who arrived in India till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in these three countries will not be treated as illegal migrants but will be provided with Indian citizenship, according to the provisions of the act.
