March 2, 2015
Ratna De Nag Speaks in LS on The Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 | Transcript
Hon’ble Speaker, before I get into the details of the Bill, I would like to state here that the Bill was initiated because the Government promulgated the Citizenship Ordinance on 6 January 2015, which was aimed at the fulfilling the assurance made my Shri Narendra Modi, the Hon’ble Prime Minister, in New York to the Indian diaspora when he announced grant of lifetime visa to the persons of Indian origin and the Prime Minister was to inaugurate Prabhasi Bharatiya Divas in Gujarat on 9 January, 2015.
The proposed amendment is warranted, has luckily come to the forefront. The specific amendment is expected to replace in Sec 5 of the Citizenship Bill, instead of words ‘has been residing in India for one year’ with ‘is ordinarily resident in India for 12 months’. Likewise overseas citizen of India is substituted with overseas citizen of Indian card-holder.
Removing the word origin from persons of Indian origin card-holder to replacing with overseas citizens of Indian card-holder is timely, as it attempts to remove something which is not at all required. The objective of the Bill is good and the Amendment Bill brought before this August House, as it removes the aberration of the Citizenship Act of 1995.
I welcome the merging of two cards – person of Indian origin and overseas citizen of Indian card-holder. But I would like to put my objection to the way in which it was brought in the House through an Ordinance. I object to the Ordinance.
Thank you, Sir.
