Nagaland Assembly rejects citizenship Bill

  1. The Nagaland government has passed a resolution in the assembly, rejecting the highly contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The resolution stated that the bill cannot be implemented in Nagaland as the proposed legislation will impact the “unique history and status of the Nagas under the Constitution”.
  2. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955. Legal provisions relating to acquisition and termination of citizenship of India are contained in the Citizenship Act, 1955
  3. The bill seeks to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for Indian citizenship. The Bill also seeks to reduce the requirement of 11 years of continuous stay in the country to six years to obtain citizenship by naturalisation. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in January 2019.  However, the bill lapsed as it could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha.