The Central Government on Friday announced that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) has come into force from January 10, 2020.
In a gazette notification, the union home ministry said the Act under which Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Persi, Buddhist and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be given Indian citizenship, will come into force from January 10, 2020.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section [2] of the section 1 of the Citizenship [Amendment] Act, 2019 [47 of 201], the central government hereby appoints the 10th day of January, 2020, as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force,” the notification said.
The CAA was passed by the Parliament on December 11, 2019.
According to the Act, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
The home ministry, however, is yet to frame the rules for the act.
