NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday said that the Centre has begun the process of granting Indian citizenship certificates under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act - CAA in West Bengal.
The MHA in an official statement said, “The first set of applications by the eligible people from the state was today granted citizenship by the Empowered Committee designated for the state of West Bengal.”
It further noted that like West Bengal, the Empowered Committees of the states of Haryana and Uttarakhand have “also granted citizenship today to the first set of applicants in their respective States, under the CAA”.
The first set of Citizenship Certificates after notification of Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, granted by the Empowered Committee of Delhi, were handed over to the applicants in New Delhi by the Union Home Secretary on May 15, 2024.
The Government of India had notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 on 11th March 2024. The Rules envisage the manner of application form, procedure for processing applications by District Level Committee (DLC) and scrutiny and grant of citizenship by the State Level Empowered Committee (EC). The processing of applications is done completely through the online portal.
In pursuance of these rules, applications have been received from persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have entered India up to December 31, 2014, on account of persecution on grounds of religion or fear of such persecution.