Assam: 70 Apply for Citizenship Under CAA, 6 Granted So Far
A total of 70 migrants residing in Assam have applied for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), with six granted citizenship so far, the state government informed the assembly on the first day of the budget session.
In a separate reply, the government stated that 1,72,673 foreigners have been detected in the state to date, and 31,786 have been deported.
The CAA, passed by Parliament in 2019, came into effect in March 2024 after the Union government notified the rules. The law applies to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
The legislation faced massive protests in Assam, with several deaths reported during the agitation.
Earlier this week, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the number of doubtful voters among Bengali Hindus in Assam is less than one lakh and none are in detention centres. He added that the number will rise once the Registrar General of India finalises the 2019 draft of the National Register of Citizens, as excluded Bengali Hindus will then need to apply for citizenship under the CAA.
Under the 1950 Act, 1,572 illegal migrants have been pushed back to Bangladesh since May 2 last year. Of these, 866 were from Sribhumi district and 357 from Cachar. The government noted that 68 illegal migrants caught by the Railway Police were among those pushed back.
