3 North-Eastern States to be Excluded from Re-drafted Citizenship Bill?

Guwahati, December 5, 2019:

The newly drafted Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is likely to exclude three North-Eastern states, besides the tribal areas in three other states.

The development has been reported post-Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s meeting in Delhi with nine representatives from four organizations from Northeast, who have been categorically opposing the Bill.

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The four organizations were Manipur People Against Citizenship Amendment Bill (MANPAC), Zeliangrong Union (Assam, Manipur, Nagaland unit), The North East Forum for Indigenous People (NEFIP) and Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM)’s Imphal Unit. The Chief Ministers of Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland, were also present in the meeting in New Delhi.

Reportedly, the three north-eastern states which will be excluded from the ambit of the Bill are Arunachal, Nagaland, and Mizoram. These are the states where the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime is applicable, and as such, they will be out of the purview of the Citizenship Bill.

The ILP is an official travel document issued by the government of India to allow the movement of an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.

Apart from the three states, the Bill is likely to exclude tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura where autonomous councils and districts were created under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution and the areas covered under 'The Inner Line' notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. However, no recommendation could be seen in the case of Sikkim.

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It may be mentioned here that the Government is aiming to amend a 1955 law that grants citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from the Muslim-dominated countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan if they have lived in India for six years or more.

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