Govt Extends Cut-Off Entry Under CAA To Dec 2024 In Big Relief For Minorities

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has pushed the CAA entry cut-off date to December 31, 2024, providing a big relief for minorities from the neighbouring countries. Earlier, the CAA had provided a path to citizenship for non-Muslim religious authorities who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The same has now been extended by ten years.

The CAA seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis entering India from neighbouring countries- Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, after five years of residence.

Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State for Education & Development of North Eastern Region, took to microblogging platform 'X' (formerly Twitter) and announced that the government has extended the last date for the same.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs has extended the cut-off date for entry into India for applying under CAA till 31st December 2024! Grateful to Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, Hon’ble Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah ji and the Central Government for this historic decision," said Dr. Majumdar in his post.

The government had implemented CAA on March 11 last year by notifying the rules. This was four years after the law was passed by the Parliament to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act was passed by Parliament in December 2019. Ramnath Kovind, The then president of India, had signed the bill, which became a law aimed at providing Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants who faced religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.