Citizenship Bill: Lok Sabha body gets more time to submit report

Lok Sabha, the lower House of India's parliament, today extended the time for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to submit its report on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which seeks to give citizenship to "persecuted" Hindus from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The directive came at a time when controversy rages over exclusion of more than four million people from the list of Indian citizens in Assam.

The committee has been given time till the first day of the last week of the winter session of the parliament to submit its report. The winter session generally begins in November and ends by Christmas.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India, instead of 12 years even if they do not possess any proper document.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee is headed by BJP lawmaker Rajendra Agrawal and was constituted on August 23, 2016 to examine the Bill after it was tabled in parliament two years ago.

BJP ally Asom Gana Parishad in Assam has opposed the Bill saying it will open the floodgate of Bangla-speaking Hindus from Bangladesh.