Latest news with #CitizenshipAmendmentAct
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
76-yr-old refugee struggles to get citizenship under CAA for lack of parents' Bangladeshi birth certificates
Nagpur: It has been an year since Gauri Shankar Mallick, a 76-year-old refugee from erstwhile East Pakistan, applied under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to get Indian citizenship. His file is stuck as the govt is insisting on submission of the birth certificates of his parents, which Mallick says is impossible to get from what is now Bangladesh in a flux. A recent communication sent to Mallick from the govt states that even though the rest of his documents have been submitted, it is mandatory to provide proof of his parents' date of birth or his own birth certificate. None of these are available, he says. Like millions of Hindus escaping killings by the Pakistani army, Mallick came to India in 1970 with his relatives from Khulna in East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh a year later. His parents joined him later, and they finally found place in the Mana refugee camp set up at Raipur, now the capital of Chhattisgarh. "The entire family was scattered due to the chaos and there was no means of communication either," he says. As reported by TOI earlier, Mallick submitted all the documents, including those issued from the refugee camp. Yet, the authorities still want proof of his parents' date of birth to be uploaded on the portal, says the document shared with TOI. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo All Mallick has is his mother Kalisdasi's death certificate. "My father, Shubhlal Mallick, who was then in his seventies, died in the refugee camp itself. My mother lived with me in Gadchiroli until around 2000. Now, how can I get their birth certificates from Bangladesh, especially now when there is fresh trouble in the country?" he asks. Repeated emails to the home ministry have only been met with silence, says Mallick, who now lives in Gondia with his son. Mallick and his family settled in India like other East Pakistanis. They got land in the interiors of Gadchiroli, and he also got a job in a Bengali school started by the Indian govt for refugee children. More than 50 years down the line, leading a retired life, Mallick applied for a passport in 2019 and was asked to submit citizenship proof, he says. Later, he applied under CAA in 2024 when the law was notified. The other papers submitted by Mallick include a ration card issued in 1990 and a certificate from the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education at Jessore, then East Pakistan and now Bangladesh, which was not considered enough. Dr Subhodh Biswa, president of Nikhil Bangla Samanbay Samiti, an association of erstwhile East Pakistani Hindus, says the govt must ease the norms as it is leading to hardships for the applicants. "How would others who came in the later years escaping religious persecution get citizenship if Mallick, who officially landed at a refugee camp 50 years ago, struggles to get the official status as an Indian national? After so many years, the question of obtaining citizenship should not arise at all," said Biswas. Another source involved in CAA applications also confirmed that birth certificates of parents are mandatory with citizenship applications.
India Gazette
5 hours ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
India has always been secular, minorities safest here: Rajnath Singh train guns on opposition in Bihar
Patna (Bihar) [India], July 2 (ANI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday took a jibe at opposition parties in Bihar while addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) state executive meeting and said that India has always been secular. The Defence Minister questioned the opposition regarding the definition of secular amid the ongoing controversy over Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Dattatreya Hosabale's suggestion to reconsider the inclusion of words 'secular and socialist' in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. 'India is a country whose very culture embodies the spirit of Sarva Dharma Sambhav (equal respect for all faiths). Indian culture has, by its nature, always been secular. This is the land where everyone has always had the freedom to express and propagate their beliefs,' he said. Singh further emphasised that over the years, India has remained secular, and it remains the safest place for all the minorities. He said, 'It is India that wholeheartedly accepted the Parsi community, who first arrived in Gujarat's Surat, and who today have been living in many cities across the country for centuries. In Kerala stands not only India's but one of the world's oldest churches, which remains intact to this day.' 'If I talk about Islam, then let me say that India is the only country in the world where all 72 sects of Islam live safely and peacefully. This is living, breathing proof of our country's tolerance and secularism. If there's any place in the world where minorities are the safest, it is in our country--India,' he added. Singh pointed out the current situation in neighbouring countries, Pakistan and Bangladesh and said, 'Look at the condition of our neighbouring countries. In Pakistan, the minority communities are facing severe hardships. Forget minorities--there, even conflicts between Shias, Sunnis, and Ahmadis erupt frequently. In Bangladesh, too, the situation is deteriorating. What is happening to the Hindu community there is nothing short of a blot on the forehead of any civilised society.' He questioned the opposition parties and said, 'I want to ask the fake torchbearers of secularism: When the word secular was added to the Constitution through the 42nd Amendment during the Emergency in 1976, why was it not inserted into the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir? Should Jammu and Kashmir not have been secular--a place where Kashmiri Pandits were being targeted purely on religious grounds? We abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, and only then could Jammu and Kashmir truly become secular.' In the year 2019, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed by the Parliament. On this, the minister said, 'Witnessing the atrocities inflicted on minority communities in neighbouring countries, our government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Ironically, it was most strongly opposed by those political parties who shed crocodile tears for minorities day and night.' 'Across the entire world, the Bharatiya Janata Party is the only political party that not only advocated for amending citizenship laws to protect persecuted minorities in neighbouring countries but, upon coming to power, actively worked on it and ultimately passed it,' he added. He further added, 'The Indian Constitution is a living document. Healthy debate about it is a hallmark of a vibrant democracy. But the attempts being made once again by Congress and RJD to mislead the public in the name of the Constitution will not succeed this time.' Singh also shared his views on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and said, 'In this Lok Sabha election, we have expressed our resolve to implement a Uniform Civil Code in the country. Those who genuinely believe in secularism should come forward and lend their support to the creation of a Uniform Civil Code.' During the Lok Sabha elections held in 2024, the Central government passed a resolution to implement a uniform civil code, which has been opposed by the opposition parties. Union Minister Rajnath Singh today addressed the Party's executive meeting ahead of the state elections. He motivated and enlightened the party workers and leaders. 'The opposition will run various campaigns and spread lies, but you must answer them with confidence. When the opposition strikes with the politics of hatred, you should respond with the politics of service. Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi in the centre and Nitish Kumar in the state, we must fulfil the vision of a developed Bihar and a developed India. This time, the elections will be fought solely on the issue of development,' he said. (ANI)
News18
12 hours ago
- Politics
- News18
Rajnath Singh Slams Oppn For 'Crocodile Tears' Over CAA, Cites Hindu Persecution In Bangladesh
Last Updated: Rajnath Singh accused the opposition of double standards, saying they vehemently opposed the CAA while constantly shedding "crocodile tears" for minorities. Amid concerns over the treatment of minority communities in India's neighbouring countries, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday slammed the opposition parties for opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) when it was introduced. Rajnath Singh accused the opposition of double standards, saying they vehemently opposed the CAA while constantly shedding 'crocodile tears" for minorities. 'Seeing the atrocities inflicted on minority communities in neighbouring countries, our government passed the CAA, which was opposed the most by those political parties that shed crocodile tears for minorities day and night," Singh said. The Defence Minister addressed BJP workers at the party's state executive meeting in Patna, delivering a morale-boosting speech ahead of the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. Referring specifically to Bangladesh, Singh added, 'The situation in Bangladesh is getting quite bad. What is happening to the Hindu community there is nothing less than a stain on the forehead of any civilised society." The remarks come against the backdrop of disturbing reports of increasing violence and systemic discrimination against Hindus in Bangladesh. The government has faced criticism in recent years over the CAA, with opposition parties alleging it discriminates on religious lines. However, Singh reiterated that the Act is intended purely as a humanitarian measure to offer refuge to persecuted minorities from countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. The CAA, enacted in December 2019, allows non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India before December 31, 2014, to apply for Indian citizenship. While it has sparked widespread political and public debate, the government has maintained it is a targeted response to a humanitarian crisis, not a violation of secular principles. First Published: July 02, 2025, 17:20 IST
Scroll.in
3 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Why EC move to create new Bihar voter list has rung the ‘NRC' alarm bell
The Election Commission is carrying out a 'special intensive revision' of Bihar's electoral roll in the run-up to the state's Assembly elections later this year. In effect, the entire voter list for the state will be discarded to be replaced by a new one. Moreover, every voter in the state will have to prove that they are an Indian citizen to be able to vote. The ECI believes that the state needs a new list because of the inclusion of names of 'foreign illegal immigrants' and dead voters as well as movement of voters because of 'rapid urbanisation' and 'frequent migration'. An ECI official, while responding to Scroll's question on whether the poll body had data or any evidence for the presence of foreign illegal immigrants on the voter list, claimed that 'regular inputs keep coming regarding presence of such persons' on the list. However, the official did not share any data or evidence of the same. By the ECI's own estimate, a staggering 2.93 crore voters in Bihar will have to prove their citizenship through additional documents. Opposition leaders have called the exercise an attempt to covertly implement the National Register of Citizens through the backdoor, which could potentially disenfranchise thousands of voters. The National Register of Citizens was updated in Assam in 2019, after a mammoth scrutiny of ancestral family documents to weed out 'illegal immigrants', and ended up excluding 19 lakh residents of the state. So contested was the exercise that the Bharatiya Janata Party government refused to notify it. In 2019, Union home minister Amit Shah had repeatedly promised that such an exercise would be carried out across the country – and that it would be linked with the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act. The Modi government's new citizenship law fast-tracked citizenship for undocumented migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan but excluded Muslims from the amnesty. Shah's comments sparked nationwide street protests mostly led by Muslims, who feared that they would be disenfranchised in any such exercise. In response, the Narendra Modi government denied any link between the CAA and the NRC and shelved the idea of a nationwide citizen count. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and leader of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, Dipankar Bhattacharya, have both warned that the special intensive revision of rolls in Bihar is an attempt to reintroduce the NRC. Several booth level officers and politicians in Bihar also told Scroll that they were sceptical about the logistical viability of the revision and argued that it would adversely affect the most vulnerable sections of society, especially Dalits and Muslims. 'We don't know why the ECI has taken this decision now,' said a senior functionary of a political party that is part of Bihar's ruling National Democratic Alliance, requesting anonymity. 'It is quite impossible to carry out this revision within their schedule.' The Election Commission has set aside only three months for the entire revision process leading up to the preparation of the final electoral roll. An ECI official told Scroll that the exercise will be completed in time since over two lakh officials have been deployed for it. The official added that the electoral roll, or the voter list, has been revised in Bihar even before the previous elections. 'ECI has been conducting annual revisions (intensive as well as summary) for over 70 years, it does not mean that ECI is doubting its electoral roll anyway,' said the official. 'But this is a required exercise as the electoral roll is always a dynamic list which keeps changing…' The senior functionary of the NDA ally added that caste groups that vote for the party will likely struggle to produce the documents demanded by the ECI. 'Among the Musahar and Dom castes, voters hardly possess the documents that they are demanding. How will they prove their citizenship?' the functionary asked. Musahars and Doms are Dalit communities in Bihar. What is the exercise? Bihar has 7.9 crore registered voters, according to the Election Commission. Between June 25 and July 26, booth level officers, or BLOs, in Bihar will go door-to-door to verify if these voters are genuine. If the officers are satisfied, the voters will be re-enrolled to a new voter list by electoral registration officers, or EROs, who are usually officials from the local administration. If not, they will be removed from the voter lists. A draft roll will be published on August 1 and the final roll will be out on September 30. This process is called a special intensive revision, or SIR, and it was last held in Bihar in 2003. The ECI's 2023 manual on electoral rolls says that in such a revision, BLOs visit every household in his assigned area and note down 'all relevant particulars of the eligible persons staying in each house' in an electoral card. Based on these cards, which are checked by senior election officials, the ECI prepares a written manuscript. 'Thereafter, the manuscript is computerised and a draft roll is prepared and published, inviting claims and objections,' says the manual. 'After disposal of such claims and objections, the roll is finally published.' The difference this time around is that the poll body has announced it will verify every voter's citizenship to allow them onto the new voter list. This will be easiest for those who were on the list prepared after the 2003 revision of rolls – the Election Commission has said they will be assumed to be Indian citizens and will only have to fill up an enumeration form provided by their BLOs along with a copy of the 2003 voter list with their name in it. The ECI's 2023 manual does not mention that a special intensive revision of rolls requires a determination of citizenship. The citizenship test Those who are not on the 2003 list will have to provide additional documents depending on their date of birth. The ECI has made three categories, which have been determined in line with the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Those born before July 1, 1987, will have to produce a proof of either their date of birth or place of birth, or both. Those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, will have to produce the above proof, as well as a similar proof for one of their parents. Those born after December 2, 2004, will have to produce this proof for themselves and for both their parents. This test was not applied in the 2003 revision of rolls either. A 2003 Times of India report said that the SIR that year included 'a detailed verification of each voter's photo identity card to remove any discrepancy between the card and the roll.' The ECI official said that he will have to find that out whether the citizenship test was applied during the 2003 revision. The Election Commission has provided an indicative list of documents that can be furnished as proof. Voters who cannot provide documents the EC has asked for will be removed from a draft voter list, which they can appeal before the publication of the final list. Former chief election commissioner OP Rawat told Scroll that the poll body has ordered a special intensive revision because it has a mandate to revise voter lists. 'The only difference is that instead of a summary revision, it has now ordered an intensive revision,' he said. 'I believe that the ECI thinks that a lot of existing voters in Bihar are not Indian citizens.' 'Right to vote in danger' On June 27, Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the chief opposition party in Bihar, said that the exercise was 'suspicious and worrying'. 'Why did a big exercise like special intensive revision suddenly become necessary after 22 years just two months before the elections?' he asked. Yadav claimed that since more than 4 crore voters in Bihar are between 20 and 38 years of age, nearly 50% of the total electorate will have to prove their and one of their parents' citizenship in a matter of weeks. 'For the people in villages, the Scheduled Castes, Adivasis, minorities and backward classes, this new process is a mountainous challenge,' he added. 'No documents, no resources, and now even the right to vote is in danger?' The Congress party also opposed the exercise, calling it a 'devious and dubious idea in the disguise of a solution'. It added that the right to vote of Bihar's voters will now be in the hands of central and state government officials. 'This carries a huge risk of willful exclusion of voters using the power of the state machinery,' it added. According to the Bihar CEO, the state has 77,895 BLOs, as of June 12, 2025. This means that on average, every BLO will have to visit a thousand voters before July 26 to collect their enumeration forms and other documents. For many underpaid and overworked booth level officers, this is a daunting task. Rajkumar Gond, a BLO in Jigina village in Kaimur district, told Scroll that it will be very difficult for him to survey nearly 1,400 voters in his village before July 26. 'I'm a teacher at the local school and my duty there lasts 8 hours every day,' he said. 'Now, we will have to finish school and go door-to-door [for the revision]. It is an important responsibility so we will have to work all night. It is a tiring job.' The Seemanchal problem Tauquir Alam, a national secretary of the Congress party, told Scroll that the Seemanchal region of Bihar is more vulnerable to complications than others. 'It is a hotspot of migration and floods,' said Alam. 'People go to Delhi and Punjab to work in large numbers. How many of them can come back for this exercise?' According to government data, about 7% of Bihar's population has migrated to other states, of which 30% have migrated for employment opportunities. Alam emphasised that the region, which includes Purnea, Kishanganj, Katihar and Araria districts, has the highest number of Muslim voters, some of whom speak Bengali. 'This is an undeclared NRC and their votes are at risk,' he said. Sixty eight per cent of Kishanganj's population is Muslim, the highest in the state, according to the 2011 census. It is followed by Katihar at 45%, Araria at 43% and Purnia at 39%. At 12%, Katihar has the highest population of Bengali-speakers in Bihar, according to the last census. Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, which won five of the 23 Assembly seats in Seemanchal in the 2020 state polls, has slammed the revision exercise as a 'cruel joke'. What the BLOs say Former chief election commissioner OP Rawat told Scroll that the special intensive revision may look like a difficult exercise to an outsider, but the election machinery is up for the task. 'Out of the 1,000 voters in a village on average, 700-800 will be on the 2003 voter list,' said Rawat. 'Out of the remaining who are not on that list, 150 should be able to provide their documents. It'll only be about 50 people per booth who might face difficulties. But the ECI will be able to sort these problems out.' But BLOs in Bihar paint a more challenging picture. Ashfaq Alam, 32, who was a booth level officer in Lohagada village in Kishanganj between 2016 and 2023, told Scroll that the village had about 1,500 voters, out of which only 50-60 voters will be able to prove their citizenship. 'This is the last district of Bihar and it is the most backward,' said Alam. 'Hardly 2% of the people here will have their birth certificates.' Alam is from the Shershahbadi community, a Bengali-speaking Muslim caste classified as an extremely backward class in Bihar. They have a significant presence in Lohagada, along with Musahars and Santhals, an Adivasi community listed as a Scheduled Tribe in the state. 'In 2017, there was an overnight flood and most people did not get the time to collect their possessions. They simply ran,' Alam added. 'The Santhals were worst affected because they live in homes made of mud. None of their documents survived.' The ECI official, however, said that citizens without documents can use a family register, also called a vanshawali or a parivar register, that can be obtained from local bodies, to prove their citizenship. Family registers are maintained by the gram panchayat secretary under the Bihar Gram Panchayat Rules, 2011. The register contains 'necessary information' on every member of the panchayat. Vilas Kumar Harijan, a BLO in Chowka village in Purnea district, also said that illiterate people in his village will struggle to produce proof of citizenship. 'About half of the village can't read and write,' he said. 'They will have to fall back on their Aadhaar cards and ration cards [for the revision].' Bihar's leader of Opposition, Tejashwi Yadav, has claimed that the ECI will not accept Aadhaar cards as a proof of date of birth. Asked about Aadhaar's validity for this exercise, the ECI official said that 'accepting any document beyond the list provided by the ECI depends on the electoral registration officers,' since the ERO has to satisfy the eligibility of any voter before entering his name in the list. The ECI official also pointed out that political parties can scrutinise the process. The poll body allows local voters selected by political parties to work alongside BLOs to make sure that the voter lists are accurate. They are called booth level agents, or BLAs. According to the poll body, there are 1.54 lakh BLAs in Bihar. But the Opposition parties are at a disadvantage. Data available with the Chief Electoral Officer in Bihar shows that the RJD and the INC have 13,065 fewer BLAs than the governing NDA alliance, which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United). The BJP and its allies have supported the revision. The saffron party said that the Opposition complaints over the exercise show that 'the wheel of their election vehicle has got punctured'. Its ally, Lok Jan Shakti (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan, has taken the same view. A JD(U) spokesperson told Indian Express that the revision is 'beneficial for everyone' and an 'opportunity to include more people in the democratic process'. Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) alleged that many seats in the state have up to 20,000 'bogus voters' which the opposition would have capitalised on. 'Now, following the special intensive revision, names of such bogus voters would be struck off, much to their chagrin," he added. The ECI official told Scroll that nearly 1 lakh volunteers would be assisting elderly, sick, marginalised groups to 'ensure that no eligible voter is left out'. Rawat was confident that despite challenges, the system will work well during the intensive revision. But he did have a small warning. 'All political parties will try to not include certain voters in the voter list. The ECI will have to be prepared for it.'
Canada News.Net
5 days ago
- Politics
- Canada News.Net
Faiza Rifat condemns Pahalgam terror attack at UNHRC, urges global action against Pak's state-sponsored terrorism
Geneva [Switzerland] June 25 (ANI): Faiza Rifat from Rajasthan' Tonk representing RSKS India (UNHRC, NGO speaker), spoke at the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Tuesday, advocating fiercely against terrorism, condemning the terrorist attack in Jammu-Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22 in which 26 innocent civilians were killed by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. In her video intervention as an NGO speaker, Rifat condemned the horrific attack as part of the persistent cross-border terrorism originating from Pakistan-occupied Jammu-Kashmir, accusing Pakistan of continuously supporting terrorist organisations. She characterised the incident as a grave violation of human rights and a direct menace to global peace and security. Rifat called for international intervention, urging the global community to hold Pakistan responsible for its sponsorship of terrorism and demanding a unified and decisive response to state-sponsored terror activities. Her remarks at the UNHRC highlighted the increasing civilian deaths in Jammu and Kashmir. They reaffirmed the necessity of safeguarding the right to life, liberty, and security as stated in international human rights law. The 59th session of the Human Rights Council commenced its four-week meeting in Geneva with the annual report from the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, regarding the global human rights situation. Previously, Faiza Rifat expressed her support for India's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Rifat emphasised that the CAA aims to provide a path to citizenship for religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Rifat stated that the CAA fulfils an urgent need by granting refuge and legal status to those who have faced persecution in their home countries historically. (ANI)
