What is the CAA law of India in simple language

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

You might already have heard about this in the news. Right now this is quite the topic that is being covered almost in all the platforms. Online and Offline. However, in certain places, I find it very hard to comprehend. And in certain places, it is just too technical even to understand. In this article, I will explain the CAA law of India in simple language so that it makes sense to the general public like us. Who are not intellectuals commenting on the country’s systems. Or commenting on the laws of the land.

What is CAA

Simply put the full form of CAA is Citizenship Amendment Act. It was passed by the Parliament of India on 11th December 2019. Earlier we had Citizenship law which was amended in 2019. As per the amended law, religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who arrived before 2014 would have the possibility to get Indian Citizenship.

The eligible minorities were stated as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians. The law does not grant any such treatment to Muslims of any of these countries. Under this amendment, people who had a fear of religious persecution in the neighbouring countries could get accelerated citizenship by this law. The amendment also relaxed the requirement for citizenship from 12 years to 6 years.

The reasons for excluding Muslims was that Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have Islam as their state religion, it is therefore “unlikely” that Muslims would “face religious persecution” there. On 11 March 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs officially announced the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act. This development follows Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s commitment to implement them before the 2024 national elections.

This is what the CAA law of India is in simple language. Hope this makes it easier for you to understand what the law is. And for whom it is meant for. As India welcomes the other minorities let us be vigilant of misinformation.

You will be able to find all the details you are looking for in case of any questions here: https://indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in/

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Prabhudatta Sahoo

I am a 33-year-old gentleman from a lower-middle-class family hailing from a small village Narasinghpur in Cuttack, Odisha, INDIA. I have a post-graduate degree in M.Tech from BITS Pilani. I started blogging back in June 2014. You can check out my journey and all that I have learnt all these years on my website.

www.prabhuds.com