Over 800,000 Indians gave up their citizenship in last 7 years: Govt

A total 8,81,254 Indian citizens renounced their citizenship in the last seven years till September 30, 2021 as per information available with the Ministry of External Affairs, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

According to the data tabled in the Lower House, most Indians renounced their Indian citizenship in 2019.

Total 1,31,489 Indians renounced their citizenship in 2015, which then rose to 1,41,603 in 2016. In 2017, 1,33,049 Indians renounced their citizenship. In 2018, the number stood at 1,34,561. In 2019, the number rose to 1,44,017 and in 2020 it dipped to 85,242. In 2021 it again mounted to 1,11,287 Indians who renounced their citizenship, till September 30.

In this regard, a question was raised by Telangana Rashtriya Samiti leader Kotha Prabhakar Reddy in the Lok Sabha today.

He questioned "whether provisions have been made for applicants to upload documents online, with an upper limit of 60 days for the renunciation."

Rai replied, "Citizenship of India may be renounced under provisions of Section 8 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 read with rule 23 of the Citizenship Rules, 2009. The online portal for renunciation of Indian citizenship has been activated in August, 2021. End to end processing of renunciation applications is carried out in the online Citizenship Module.