The Citizenship Amendment Bill, which now, after being passed by both the houses has become an Act after President Kovind gives his nod.

• It entitles Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians facing religious persecution in the three nations-Muslim-majority neighbours — Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had arrived in India before 31 December 2014.
• This amendment is of the Citizenship Act, 1955 which requires the applicant to have resided in India for 11 of the previous 14 years. The amendment relaxes this requirement from 11 years to six years, for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from the three nations.
• The Citizenship (Amendment) Act does not apply to tribal areas of Tripura, Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya because of being included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Also areas that fall under the Inner Limit notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, will also be outside the Act’s purview. This keeps almost entire Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland out of the ambit of the Act.
• The bill includes a provision to cancel the registration of Overseas Citizen of India (OIC) in case they violate any law.                                                                                                                                                                   LEARNING WITH TIMES

         In India, citizenship is regulated by the Citizenship Act, 1955.  The Act specifies that citizenship may be acquired in India through five methods – by birth in India, by descent, through registration, by naturalisation (extended residence in India), and by incorporation of territory into India.

          Articles 5 to 8 of the Indian Constitution govern the conditions under which an individual can get Indian citizenship. Article 9 governs the conditions when the same can be revoked. Article 10 gives the right for the continuation of the citizenship and Article 11 gives the government the authority to make rules related to citizenship. The Citizenship Act of 1955 was enacted by the parliament under Article 11 of the constitution.