Indians In 8 Countries To Get Dual Citizenship

The Union Cabinet tonight decided to grant dual citizenship to Indians living in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy.

These countries have been chosen because they already have dual citizenship laws and a large number of Indians are living there.

Indians living in these eight countries will have to apply for the dual citizenship and the government could grant it after verification.

A Bill to amend the citizenship law will be introduced in the current session of Parliament.

They will not have the privilege of voting rights and will not be allowed to hold constitutional offices or jobs in three Services

 

The Cabinet also approved certain amendments to the Citizenship Act, 1955 to incorporate new provisions, streamline and remove certain provisions that have become redundant in order to increase the efficacy of the Act.

The amendments will also introduce overseas citizenship for persons of Indian origin (PIOs) belonging to specified countries and facilitate introduction of the scheme of issue of national identity cards to all Indian citizens.

The Cabinet also decided to set up a National Judicial Commission for appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts.

The commission will be chaired by the Chief Justice of India and comprise two seniormost judges of the Supreme Court, the Union law minister and an eminent citizen, possibly a legal luminary.

To overcome the problem of legislative competence of the Centre, the Cabinet approved the enactment of a central law for prohibition of cow slaughter under Article 252(1) of the Constitution.

The Centre can act in the matter only if two or more states request it to formulate a law on the issue.

The Cabinet also approved the proposal to approach the state governments to pass a resolution on the subject and forward it to the Centre for bringing a central legislation on the prohibition of cow slaughter.