{"id":61240,"date":"2025-12-10T18:58:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=61240"},"modified":"2025-12-13T17:16:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T11:46:47","slug":"caa-citizenship-scrutiny-sc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-12-2025\/caa-citizenship-scrutiny-sc","title":{"rendered":"Citizenship Under CAA Only After Scrutiny: SC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Polity &amp; Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court of India has recently clarified that citizenship under the <strong>Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) is not automatic.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Applicants must meet all conditions of naturalisation, and the Union government must examine each case individually.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Features of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Purpose and Objective: <\/strong>The CAA amends the <strong><em>Citizenship Act of 1955<\/em><\/strong> to provide <strong>Indian citizenship to certain persecuted minorities<\/strong> from neighboring countries of <strong>Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Eligible Communities: <\/strong>The Act specifically covers <strong>six non-Muslim religious communities<\/strong> of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Individuals from these communities who <strong>entered India on or before December 31, 2014<\/strong>, without valid travel documents or whose documents expired, are eligible for citizenship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Exemption from \u2018Illegal Migrant\u2019 Status: <\/strong>Such persons shall <strong>not be treated as illegal migrants<\/strong> under the Act, enabling them to apply for <strong>citizenship through naturalization.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The required period of residence in India for naturalization has been <strong>reduced from 11 years to 5 years<\/strong> for these groups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Applicability Exceptions: <\/strong>The Act does <strong>not apply<\/strong> to:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tribal areas of <strong>Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura<\/strong> (as included in the <strong>Sixth Schedule of the Constitution<\/strong>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Areas under the \u2018Inner Line Permit\u2019 system<\/strong> (Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Related Concerns &amp; Issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Legal and Constitutional Challenges:<\/strong> Over 230 petitions are pending before the Supreme Court challenging the CAA\u2019s constitutionality. Petitioners argue that it violates <strong>Article 14<\/strong> (Right to Equality), <strong>Article 15<\/strong> (Prohibition of discrimination) and <strong>Basic structure doctrine of secularism<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Violation of the <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/24-11-2025\/assam-accord-1985\"><strong>Assam Accord, 1985<\/strong><\/a><strong>: <\/strong>Assam Accord, 1985 set <strong>March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date<\/strong> for identifying illegal immigrants (Section 6A CAA, 2019).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The CAA <strong>alters the demographic balance<\/strong> and stokes fears of cultural erosion by <strong>extending the date to 2014<\/strong> for certain communities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Link to NRC and Electoral Rolls: <\/strong>CAA could be used to selectively grant citizenship, while NRC and SIR could be used to disenfranchise minorities, especially Muslims.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Discriminatory Exclusion of Groups:<\/strong> Many other groups in the<strong> South Asia region <\/strong>such as <strong>Rohingya Muslims, Bhutanese, Hazaras, Shias and Ahmadiyyas<\/strong> face exclusion.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These groups too have suffered due to their religious identities and seek refuge in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Pathways to Indian Citizenship<\/strong><br><br>&#8211; <strong>Constitutional Foundations:<\/strong> <strong>Articles 5\u201311 of Constitution of India (Part II)<\/strong> lays down the initial framework for citizenship at the time of its commencement:<br>1.  <strong>Article 5:<\/strong> Grants citizenship to persons domiciled in India at the commencement of the Constitution.<br>2. <strong>Article 6:<\/strong> Covers migrants from Pakistan, granting citizenship under certain conditions.<br>3. <strong>Article 7:<\/strong> Addresses those who migrated to Pakistan but later returned.<br>4. <strong>Article 8:<\/strong> Provides for citizenship of Indians residing abroad.<br>5. <strong>Article 9:<\/strong> Bars dual citizenship, if a person voluntarily acquires citizenship of another country, they forfeit Indian citizenship.<br>6. <strong>Article 10: <\/strong>Ensures that existing citizens continue to enjoy rights unless terminated under law.<br>7. <strong>Article 11:<\/strong> Empowers Parliament to regulate citizenship by law.<br><br>&#8211; <strong>Statutory Provisions: The Citizenship Act, 1955: <\/strong>It provides the legal framework for acquiring and terminating Indian citizenship. Key modes of acquisition include:<br>1. By Birth (Section 3)<br>2. By Descent (Section 4)<br>3. By Registration (Section 5)<br>4. By Naturalization (Section 6)<br>5. By Incorporation of Territory (Section 7).<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_international\/issues\/160647\/OPS\/G3KF9IL69.1.png?rev=2025-12-10T01:01:45+05:30&amp;cropFromPage=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Supreme Court of India has recently clarified that citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) is not automatic.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Applicants must meet all conditions of naturalisation, and the Union government must examine each case individually.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Features of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Purpose and Objective: The CAA amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to provide Indian citizenship to certain persecuted minorities from neighboring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Eligible Communities: The Act specifically covers six non-Muslim religious communities of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Individuals from these communities who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, without valid travel documents or whose documents expired, are eligible for citizenship.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Exemption from \u2018Illegal Migrant\u2019 Status: Such persons shall not be treated as illegal migrants under the Act, enabling them to apply for citizenship through naturalization.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The required period of residence in India for naturalization has been reduced from 11 years to 5 years for these groups.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-12-2025\/caa-citizenship-scrutiny-sc\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61240"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61542,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61240\/revisions\/61542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}