06-16-2005, 09:02 PM
<b>India gives nod to dual citizenship for its diaspora</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Keeping its promise made during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a legislative amendment to permit dual citizenship, paving the way for issue of smart cards to Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs).
"The Government has decided to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 and (also the) allocation of Business Rules to let the ministry of overseas Indian affairs issue notifications under Section 7B(1) of the Act and provide smart cards," Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy said.
The amendment would benefit all people of Indian origin and their children and grandchildren "who migrated from India to countries other than Pakistan and Bangladesh after January 26, 1950", Reddy said after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
<b>All those who were eligible to become Indian citizens January 26, 1950 or belonged to territories that became part of India after August 15, 1947 would be eligible for "Overseas Citizenship of India as long as their home countries allow dual citizenship in some form or the other", the Minister said.</b>
Granting of dual citizenship was an important and loudly cheered announcement made by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the First Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in 2003.
Parliament also recently passed a bill to grant dual citizenship to the People of Indian origin belonging to 16 specified countries and gave an operational start to diaspora's productive engagement with India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, <b>"The Government has decided to offer dual citizenship to all overseas Indians who migrated from the country after January 26, 1950, as long as their home countries allow dual citizenship under their law."</b>
The bill, which amends the Citizenship Act, 1955, simplifies the procedure to re-acquire Indian citizenship by adults who are children of Indian citizens and former Indian citizens.
It provides for grant of overseas citizenship of India to PIOs belonging to 16 specified countries and Indian citizens who choose to acquire citizenship of any of these countries at a later date. It also makes acquisition of Indian citizenship and naturalisation more stringent, with safeguards against illegal migrants becoming eligible for Indian citizenship.
Dual citizenship, the main concern of the diaspora in developed countries, had been a long-standing demand. It took an event like Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to bring it to fruition. The Draft bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha on May 9, 2003 to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, as a follow up to the announcement made during the first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
For those who have taken foreign passports, the grant of dual citizenship will remove the obstacles in travel to and from India with no multiple visa requirements.
<b>Due to security reasons, the dual citizenship facility was extended to PIOs of 16 countries only - Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States of America. Now it will be available to all PIOs across the world. There has been a demand from overseas Indians to grant voting rights as well but this has been specifically denied under the provision of dual citizenship</b>.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yesterday they were clueless now ...........
Pakistani and Bangladeshi can call themselves Indians <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
"The Government has decided to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 and (also the) allocation of Business Rules to let the ministry of overseas Indian affairs issue notifications under Section 7B(1) of the Act and provide smart cards," Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy said.
The amendment would benefit all people of Indian origin and their children and grandchildren "who migrated from India to countries other than Pakistan and Bangladesh after January 26, 1950", Reddy said after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
<b>All those who were eligible to become Indian citizens January 26, 1950 or belonged to territories that became part of India after August 15, 1947 would be eligible for "Overseas Citizenship of India as long as their home countries allow dual citizenship in some form or the other", the Minister said.</b>
Granting of dual citizenship was an important and loudly cheered announcement made by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the First Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in 2003.
Parliament also recently passed a bill to grant dual citizenship to the People of Indian origin belonging to 16 specified countries and gave an operational start to diaspora's productive engagement with India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, <b>"The Government has decided to offer dual citizenship to all overseas Indians who migrated from the country after January 26, 1950, as long as their home countries allow dual citizenship under their law."</b>
The bill, which amends the Citizenship Act, 1955, simplifies the procedure to re-acquire Indian citizenship by adults who are children of Indian citizens and former Indian citizens.
It provides for grant of overseas citizenship of India to PIOs belonging to 16 specified countries and Indian citizens who choose to acquire citizenship of any of these countries at a later date. It also makes acquisition of Indian citizenship and naturalisation more stringent, with safeguards against illegal migrants becoming eligible for Indian citizenship.
Dual citizenship, the main concern of the diaspora in developed countries, had been a long-standing demand. It took an event like Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to bring it to fruition. The Draft bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha on May 9, 2003 to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, as a follow up to the announcement made during the first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
For those who have taken foreign passports, the grant of dual citizenship will remove the obstacles in travel to and from India with no multiple visa requirements.
<b>Due to security reasons, the dual citizenship facility was extended to PIOs of 16 countries only - Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States of America. Now it will be available to all PIOs across the world. There has been a demand from overseas Indians to grant voting rights as well but this has been specifically denied under the provision of dual citizenship</b>.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yesterday they were clueless now ...........
Pakistani and Bangladeshi can call themselves Indians <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->