Citizenship Amendment Bill gets nod of Upper House

New Delhi:The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, that seeks to make it easier for non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to gain citizenship in the country, on Wednesday got the nod of Parliament with the Rajya Sabha passing it by a majority of members.  

The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill after a six hour long debate with 125 voting in favour and  105  voting against it.  The passage of the Bill came after the House rejected  Motions moved by K K Ragesh of the CPM and Benoy Vishvam of the CPI to refer the Bill to a Select committee of the Rajya Sabha.

The Motions were rejected with  99 voting in favour and    124 voting against.The House also rejected amendments moved on the Bill by several members including K K Ragesh,  Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Javed Ali Khan, Tiruchi Shiva, Elavaram Kareem, Rajeev Gowda and Derek O Brien.

With the passage of the Bill in the Upper House, the Bill, which was passed in the ok Sabha on December 9, has got the nod of Parliament.

The legislation seeks to make it easier for non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to gain citizenship in the country. The legislation is applicable to groups who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. (UNI)