Voices from India’s Borderlands against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA-2019) An Explanatory study

Abstract

India is the largest populous democracy in the world, however there are many others. India has conducted itself as a responsible democracy ever since it gained its freedom. The world community has concurred on this as well. It has proven capable of adjusting to a variety of difficult situations. In order to revise India's Constitution, it is necessary to change the fundamental or ultimate law of the nation. Article 368 of Part XX (the Constitution's governing provision) governs constitutional amendments in India. With the help of this mechanism, the Indian Parliament's arbitrary power is constrained and the Indian Constitution is safeguarded. There are two different categories of modifications allowed under the Indian Constitution. A majority of all Indian states must ratify, as well as a special majority in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (the lower house of Parliament). When the Indian Constitution was up for review again in October 2021, 105 amendments had been made. In 1950, the First Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. The Constitution has undergone 104 amendments since that period. The Citizenship Amendment Bill, introduced in Lok Sabha, was an attempt to update the Citizenship Act of 1955. (CAA Bill 2019). A Joint Parliamentary Committee received it, and on January 7, 2019, it issued a report outlining its conclusions and suggestions. The Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed on January 8, 2019, and the 16th Lok Sabha was dissolved. Amit Shah, the minister of home affairs, reintroduced the bill in the 17th Lok Sabha on December 9, and it was approved on December 10 of that same year. Despite the Rajya Sabha voting to adopt the measure on December 11th, India has been quite critical of it due to its discriminatory nature among neighbouring nations. A bill of this sort is fiercely opposed by the populace. The paper aims to explain all of the bill's provisions and presents the arguments against it.