The Ministry of Home Affairs seems to have set the ball rolling on its most controversial and anti-constitutional piece of legislation, the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. On May 28, the Ministry has issued a notification while exercising its powers under section 16 of the Citizenship Act, effectively inviting applications for Indian citizenship from persons from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan belonging to minority communities i.e., Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians.

The MHA has extended its powers under section 5 of Citizenship Act of registering as a citizen and under section 6 of granting certificate of naturalisation to the District Collector of :

(i) Morbi, Rajkot, Patan and Vadodara in the State of Gujarat ;

(ii) Durg and Balodabazar in the State of Chhattisgarh ;

(iii) Jalore, Udaipur, Pali, Barmer and Sirohi in the State of Rajasthan ;

(iv) Faridabad in the State of Haryana ; and

(v) Jalandhar in the State of Punjab

Further, the powers have also been extended to the Secretary of the Department of Home of the States of Haryana and Punjab within whose jurisdiction the applicant is ordinarily resident.

The notification also sets out procedures for application and eventual verification. The applicant belonging to a minority community as deemed by the Citizenship Act and hailing from Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh has to apply for citizenship online and the verification of this application shall be done by the Collector at district level or the Secretary at the state level. These applications and reports are to be made accessible simultaneously to the Central Government on an online portal.

The Collector or Secretary is required to make such inquiry as deemed necessary for ascertaining the suitability of the applicant which may include forwarding the application to such agencies for verification and comments as may be required. The notification states that the instructions issued by the central government from time to time in this regard shall be strictly complied with.

The Collector or Secretary is empowered to grant citizenship to the applicant on being satisfied with his suitability. This citizenship will be by registration or naturalisation and certificate of registration or naturalisation will be accordingly issued.

The Collector or Secretary is required to maintain an online as well as physical register containing the details of the person so registered or naturalised as a citizen of India and furnish a copy of the same within 7 days.

At a time when the country has not shown any significant signs of recovering from a major pandemic crisis, the very fact that the home ministry is bent upon implementing its discriminating law which had sparked outrage among the larger public and had forced them to take to the streets bodes ill for future policy intents and initiatives. It appears that divisive politics will continue to override all other concerns of the Modi 2.0 regime. While several of the young protestors have been put behind bars and others continue to languish under the guise of having conspired the Delhi violence of February 2020, the MHA’s move to go ahead and implement the law is not just  brazen but a flagrant violation of any commitment to dissent within a democracy. 

The notification may be read here:

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The post Give online applications for Indian citizenship under CAA: MHA appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued two notices concerning organisations registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act offering some relief in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first notice deals with extension of validity of registration certificates and says, “The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has extended the validity of registration certificates issued under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 which have expired or are expiring during the period between 29.09.2020 and 30.09.2021. The validity for the above-mentioned registration certificates has now been extended up to 30.09.2021” The MHA says that “this has been decided keeping in view exigencies arising out of the COVID-19 situation and to ensure smooth transition to the amended FCRA regime by the FCRA NGOs.”

The second notice deals with opening of bank accounts by registered entities. It says, “The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has permitted existing Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) account holders to open their “FCRA Account” in the New Delhi Main Branch (NDMB) of the State Bank of India (SBI), 11 Sansad Marg, New Delhi – 110001 up to 30.06.2021. After that date they shall not be eligible to receive foreign contribution in any account other than the “FCRA Account” opened in the NDMB.”

It added, “Existing FCRA Account Holders were earlier given time till 31.03.2021 to open their FCRA account in the NDMB under the amended Section 17(1) of the FCRA, 2010. The amended section had come into effect on September 29, 2020.” The extension in time was once again granted “in view of the exigencies arising out of the COVID-19 situation”.

While the notices do not specifically apply to NGOs engaged in Covid relief, the timing of the notices is interesting given how it comes when the Delhi High Court is hearing a plea seeking exemptions for receiving foreign contributions in the form of life-saving equipment to be used for Covid affected people. The petition prayed for relaxing the “stringent and time-consuming preconditions” for receiving foreign contributions in the form of donations in public interest and in line with Section 50 of the FCRA.

LiveLaw quoted the petition as saying, “That Section 11 of the Act 2010 as it stands today prohibits the acceptance of foreign contribution unless a certificate of registration is obtained under sec 11(2). Section 7 of the Act expressly prohibits transfer of foreign contribution to another person. Thus, majority of NGOs who are out at the grass root level are unable to distribute this lifesaving equipment to the patients.”

It further prayed, “That it is the respectful submission of the Petitioner that the UOI can exempt the COVID related products like oxygen concentrator and lifesaving equipment from the definition of articles coming under the definition of foreign contribution for a limited period of 3-6 months so as to enable free flow of these equipment to India at this time of pandemic.”

Thus, FCRA registered NGOs that have ventured into Covid relief work, but face impending expiry of registration or haven’t opened bank accounts in accordance with the 2020 amendment, are the ones that will benefit most from the MHA’s recent decision.

But, at the same time, one must not forget how the 2020 amendment has been seen by many NGOs and Human Rights Defenders as a means to bring about greater surveillance of funding and activities of NGOs, especially those engaged in work that exposes the apathy, ineptitude or wrong-doings of public officials and the State machinery. Given how spectacularly the government has failed in controlling the spread of the Coronavirus, especially its deadlier second surge, and how grassroots NGOs have played a key role in exposing this, granting them temporary relief under FCRA could well be a means to bring their activities under the scanner and then punish them.

Accusing NGOs of money laundering and using that as grounds for cancelling FCRA license and freezing bank accounts has been one of the standard operating procedures of a vindictive regime that has been mercilessly crushing dissenting voices and targeting human rights defenders. Lawyers Collective and Amnesty (India) are only two recent victims of the regime while Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace (cjp.org.in ) were the first targets.

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The post MHA relaxes validity of FCRA registration certificates, deadline for opening bank accounts appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has declared the entire state of Nagaland as a “disturbed area” for six more months under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958.

According to an MHA release issued on Wednesday, “Whereas the Central government is of the opinion that the area comprising the whole of the State of Nagaland is in such a disturbed and dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in the aid of civil power is necessary,” reported the Hindustan Times.

The notification further said, “Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (No 28 of 1958) the Central government hereby declares that whole of the State of Nagaland to be ‘disturbed area’ for a period of six months with effect from 30th December, 2020 for the purpose of the said Act.”

Nagaland had been declared a “disturbed area” in June this year. The AFSPA has been in effect in the North East since 1958, while Nagaland became an Indian state in 1963 and has thus remained under AAFSPA for close to sixty years. AFSPA allows security forces to conduct operations anywhere and arrest anyone without a warrant. It has been condemned by many rights groups and most famously by human rights defender Irom Sharmila for its misuse by security forces to commit excesses, abuse and human rights violations.

In fact, scrapping the AFSPA was one of the key demands of the draft framework agreement to maintain peace in the region signed between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak Muivah) and the government interlocutor RN Ravi in 2015. However, the act was not withdrawn.

Though peace talks are at an advanced stage, the demand for a separate flag and Constitution for Nagaland remain contentious issues.

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