21 Pakistani Hindu migrants granted Indian citizenship in Rajasthan

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government on Wednesday granted Indian citizenship to 21 Pakistani Hindu migrants. The citizenship was handed over at the District Collectorate in Jaipur.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had informed the Lok Sabha in July that a total of "1,310 migrants had been granted citizenship by the government of Rajasthan and the District Collectors of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, and Jaipur".

The Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who have come to India before December 31, 2014. However, the Act got stalled in the Rajya Sabha.

The Central government has specified that three districts of Rajasthan - Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, and Jaipur - have the power to grant Indian citizenship by registration or naturalisation to legal migrants belonging to six minority communities, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.