{"id":5129,"date":"2019-12-10T20:48:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T15:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=5129"},"modified":"2019-12-10T20:48:13","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T15:18:13","slug":"the-citizenship-amendment-bill-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/the-citizenship-amendment-bill-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The government introduced the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2019 in the Lok Sabha despite oppositions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What does the Bill intend to?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It proposes to make it easier for certain categories of migrants to become eligible for Indian citizenship.<br \/>\n\u2022 In this revised version of CAB, the Centre has exempted certain areas in the Northeast, where the Bill has been facing protests.<br \/>\n\u2022 It exempts the whole of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, and parts of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura.<br \/>\n\u2022 But, it keeps all of Manipur under its ambit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why are three states totally exempted?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill states that nothing in this section shall apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.<br \/>\n\u2022 It also exempts the area covered under \u2018The Inter Line\u2019 notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.<br \/>\n\u2022 The Inner Line Permit (ILP) system prevails in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Inner Line Permit system<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a special permit that citizens from other parts of India require to enter these three states, and obtained by applying online or physically.<br \/>\n\u2022 It specifies dates of travel and areas which the ILP holder can travel to.<br \/>\n\u2022 When it was introduced in 1873, the objective was to protect the Crown\u2019s own commercial interests by preventing \u201cBritish subjects\u201d (Indians) from trading within these regions.<br \/>\n\u2022 In 1950, the Indian government replaced \u201cBritish subjects\u201d with \u201cCitizen of India\u201d, to address local concerns about protecting their interests.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What does this exemption mean for beneficiaries under CAB?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In ILP states, there are already a large number of migrants from other Indian states who live and work there with long-term ILPs.<br \/>\n\u2022 Therefore, the question now being asked is whether a person who becomes an Indian citizen through CAB can, or cannot, apply for an ILP and work in such states, just like any other Indian citizen.<br \/>\n\u2022 Also, multiple restrictions and regulations exist on entry and stay of outsiders (Indian citizens from outside that state\/area) in areas under the Inner Line system or the Sixth Schedule.<br \/>\n\u2022 These existing rules are expected to put the same restrictions on someone who has acquired citizenship through CAB.<br \/>\n\u2022 However, the exemptions appear to imply that no immigrant non-citizen living in these areas can be regularised as an Indian citizen through CAB.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is the Sixth Schedule and which areas will CAB exempt?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution is related to special provisions in administration of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.<br \/>\n\u2022 It provides special powers for Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in these states.<br \/>\n\u2022 ADCs have powers to enact laws in areas under their jurisdiction on a variety of subjects, with the objective of ensuring development of tribal areas and boosting self-governance by tribal communities.<br \/>\n\u2022 Mizoram is covered under the ILP regime in any case.<br \/>\n\u2022 Among the other 3 states that have areas protected under the Schedule,<br \/>\n\u2022 Tribal-majority Meghalaya has 3 ADCs that cover practically the entire state, except for a small part of Shillong city,<br \/>\n\u2022 Assam has 3 ADCs and Tripura has 1 ADC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why Manipur has been an exception to both these regimes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Manipur, like Tripura, was a princely state. Both joined the Indian Union in 1949.<br \/>\n\u2022 Only from 1985, the Sixth Schedule was implemented in Tripura\u2019s tribal areas.<br \/>\n\u2022 When Tripura was given, the Centre had said that even in Manipur it would be extended shortly but it never turned out to be a reality.<br \/>\n\u2022 However, in Manipur the state government had recommended 3 times for the Sixth Schedule but they did not pursue it properly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What about Manipur\u2019s tribal areas?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Manipur has two geographically distinct areas.<br \/>\n\u2022 The valley, which includes Imphal, constitutes roughly 10% of the geographical area but holds around 60% of the state\u2019s population.<br \/>\n\u2022 These belong mostly to the dominant Meitei community.<br \/>\n\u2022 The remaining 90% is hill areas, home to the other 40% that include a wide range of tribes, including Nagas and Kukis.<br \/>\n\u2022 While granting statehood, was aware that certain problems could come up for tribals and hence introduced Article 371C.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Article 371C:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It mentions special provisions for Manipur.<br \/>\n\u2022 The President may provide for the constitution and functions of a committee of the Legislative Assembly of the State.<br \/>\n\u2022 The committee consists of members of that Assembly elected from the Hill Areas of that State for the modifications to be made in the rules of business of the Government and in the rules of procedure of the State Legislative Assembly.<br \/>\n\u2022 Any special responsibility of the Governor in order to secure the proper functioning of such committee.<br \/>\n\u2022 The executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of directions to the State as to the administration of the said areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Other provisions for Manipur:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Act, 1971, passed by Parliament, paved the way for establishment of 6 Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in Manipur in 1972.<br \/>\n\u2022 However, without the Sixth Schedule in place, these Councils have much lower powers in comparison to ADCs under the Sixth Schedule.<br \/>\n\u2022 In 2018, the Manipur People Bill, 2018 was passed by the Assembly.<br \/>\n\u2022 Said to be awaiting presidential assent, it proposes to several regulations on \u201coutsiders\u201d or \u201cnon-Manipuri people\u201d in the state.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What about other states in the Northeast?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In November 2019, the Meghalaya Cabinet approved amendments to the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act 2016.<br \/>\n\u2022 This will lead to laws that require non-resident visitors to register themselves.<br \/>\n\u2022 The move came in the backdrop of demands for an ILP-like regime and concerns expressed by civil society and political leaders that people excluded from the NRC in Assam might try to enter Meghalaya.<br \/>\n\u2022 In Assam, there have been demands by certain sections for the introduction of an ILP regime.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: Governance Why in news? The government introduced the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2019 in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,18],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-5129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-general-studies-ii","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5130,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5129\/revisions\/5130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}