UPSC Current affairs - Granting Citizenship to Foreigners

Granting Citizenship to Foreigners

Context:

• Sixteen Chinese nationals have been granted Indian citizenship since 2007 and the applications of 10 are pending, the Union Home Ministry told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Indian Laws:

• India was not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol thereon.
• “All foreign nationals (including asylum seekers) are governed by the provisions contained in the Foreigners Act, 1946; The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939; the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Citizenship Act, 1955,”

Citizenship Act, 1955 provides for:

Naturalization:

a) That he is not a subject or citizen of any country where citizens of India are prevented from becoming subjects or citizens of that country.
b) If he is a citizen of any country, he undertakes to renounce the citizenship.
c) That he has either resided in India or been in the service of a Government, throughout the period of twelve months immediately preceding the date of application
d) That during the fourteen years immediately preceding the said period of twelve months, he has either resided in India or been in the service of a government in India, or pertly the one and partly the other, for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than eleven years.
e) That he is of good character.
f) That he has an adequate knowledge of a language specified in the eight schedule.

Source: THE HINDU