Hindustan Times: Jammu: Saturday,
22 August 2020.
77% of
all foreigners who got Indian citizenship since 2017 are Pakistani nationals,
says an RTI activist.
In the
past over three years from January 1, 2017 to August 3, a total of 2,664
foreigners including 2,063 Pakistanis have been granted Indian citizenship. The
remaining 601 people to get Indian citizenship were from 42 other countries,
revealed a Central government response to an RTI application.
The
response was filed by the Citizenship wing (Foreigners Division) of ministry of
home affairs, government of India to a RTI query by Jammu-based activist Raman
Sharma.
The data
is relevant in the context of the fierce debate around the Citizenship
Amendment Act that provisions for the grant of Indian citizenship to persecuted
minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The opponents of the act
have argued that the law is discriminatory as it makes religion the basis of
citizenship. The act has been challenged in the Supreme Court of India. The
Central government has defended the legislation citing instances of persecution
of minorities of Indian origin in these countries.
“Among
2,664 foreigners, who applied for Indian citizenship, over 77 percent were
Pakistanis followed by (citizens of) Afghanistan. A total of 188 Afghan
nationals were granted Indian citizenship during the same period. Bangladeshis
ranked third in the list. A total of 97 Bangla(desh) nationals were given
Indian citizenship,” said Sharma.
During
the current year, 328 Pakistanis, one Afghan national and three Bangladeshis
got Indian citizenship.
“MHA
data further revealed that people from across the world including some citizens
of the well resourced and developed countries like the US (59) England (19),
Malaysia (19), Canada (14), Singapore (13), Germany (6), Australia (4), France
(3), Italy (3), China (2), and one each from Israel and Russia had also applied
and were granted Indian nationality between January 1, 2017 to August 3,” said
Sharma.
The list
of foreign nationals who were given Indian nationality from 2017 onwards also
included 57 Sri Lankans, 32 Nepalese, eight Iranians, two Zambians, three
Portuguese, two South Africans and once each from Moldova, Jamaica, Eritrea,
Chile, Poland, Kazakhstan and Czech Republic.
It is
pertinent to mention here that between 2011 to 2016, a total of 5,477
foreigners acquired Indian Citizenship that included 2,157 Pakistanis, 918
Afghanis, 218 Bangladeshis, 108 Sri Lankans, 66 Iranians, 145 British, 61
Americans and 15 Chinese.
From
2011 to 2020, 8,141 foreigners so far have been granted Indian Citizenship by
the government of India.
.JPG)
.JPG)
