NEW DELHI: The Central Government on Thursday deferred its reply on a Bill seeking to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to provide citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) abroad.

In the absence of Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Minister of State S.P. Jaiswal was present in the House, but it was decided to reply to the discussion on Friday and put the Bill to vote.

The Bill was introduced on Tuesday. It replaces the Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance, 2005, promulgated on June 28.

The Bill seeks to grant Overseas Citizenship of India to PIOs of all countries except Pakistan and Bangladesh. It also proposes to reduce the period of residence in India from two years to one year for the persons registered as Overseas Citizens of India to acquire Indian citizenship. OCIs, however, would have no right to franchise or seek election to Parliament or State Assembly. They will also have no right to seek election to the post of President, Vice-President or Prime Minister.

Several members, cutting across party lines, sought the right to vote for PIOs covered under the Act. BJP member Ajay Maroo asked the Government to be "cautious" about granting citizenship to such Indians from "sensitive" States who were settled in the U.K. or Canada and were heading separatist groups. "Internal security and the security of the country is as important," he said, adding that the National Democratic Alliance, in its proposal, had restricted the countries on "reciprocity basis."

Independent member Fali Nariman asked the Government to clearly spell out the "conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed" for registration of overseas Indians. "You must be clear about what these conditions and restrictions are. They should form a part of the legislation explicitly. The House must know what it is passing. We cannot leave it to the executive or even a Minister to decide what these conditions and restrictions would be. This is too important to be left out," he said.

He wanted the Government to bring back the "oath of allegiance to the Constitution" for the PIOs. "This was provided by a rule and then deleted by a rule. That is the mischief of rules," he said.

N.P. Durga (TDP) sought details of countries that provided dual citizenship to its citizens. She wanted to know why PIOs would not get voting rights and whether the "indiscriminate sanction of citizenship" and removal of the provision for "police reporting" would not affect the security of the country.

Chandrakala Pandey (CPI-M) wanted India to sign a treaty (Totalisation Pact) with the United States to ensure that all the social security money deposited in that country by Indians working there was returned to them even if they did not complete the mandatory 10-year term.

Independent member Shankar Roy Choudhary wanted the Bill to be examined by a Standing Committee.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail