Section 6A of the Citizenship Act

Contents

Mind Map

Table Chart

Category	Details	Subdetails
News	Supreme Court hearings on constitutional validity	Challenging Section 6A
What	Special provision for Assam	Added in line with Assam Accord
		Memorandum of Settlement signed in 1985
	Persons covered	Entered India between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971
		Living in Assam
		Allowed to register as citizens
Why	Enacted on humanitarian grounds	Connected to liberation of Bangladesh
		Deeply connected to India’s history
	Address demographic changes in Assam	Protests against perceived demographic change
Where	Applicable in Assam
When	Introduced in 1985	Following Assam Accord
	Cut-off dates	January 1, 1966 – March 25, 1971
Who	Union government
	Leaders of the Assam Movement
	All Assam Students Union
How	Registration for citizenship	Under Section 6A
		Same rights and obligations as citizens
		No electoral roll inclusion for 10 years
Pros	Grants citizenship to certain immigrants	Based on specific criteria
		Addresses humanitarian concerns
Cons	Discriminatory allegations	Different cut-off date from rest of India
		Excludes West Bengal
		Shares larger border with Bangladesh
Challenges	Supreme Court queries	Inflow of illegal migrants
		Data on granted citizenship
		Foreigners Tribunal cases
		Border fencing extent and timelines
	Petitioners’ concerns	Cultural identity impact
		Influx of immigrants
		Resource scarcity
Way Forward	Supreme Court deliberations	Assessing constitutional validity
		Understanding historical context
		Analyzing demographic impact
	Solicitor General submissions	Limited application period
		Focus on specific immigrants
	Future legislation considerations	Applicability across India
		Assam’s cultural identity

Explanation

Section 6A of the Citizenship Act of India is a special rule about who can become a citizen in the state of Assam. It was made in 1985 based on the Assam Accord, an agreement to solve problems in Assam about people moving there. This rule says that people who came to Assam from other countries between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, can become Indian citizens, but they can’t vote for 10 years. This rule was made to help people and has to do with India’s history, like helping Bangladesh become free. The Supreme Court of India is looking at whether this rule is fair and follows the constitution. Some people think it’s not fair because it treats Assam differently than other states, like West Bengal, which also has many people coming from other countries. The court is also trying to figure out how this rule has changed Assam and what should be done about people who move to India illegally.