https___thewire.in_government_citizenship-bill-lapses-in-rajya-sabha-what-happens-next.xml
https___www.aarthikbikash.com_2022_07_01_108549__1.xml
1.1 1.2 2.1 3.1 3.2 4.1 4.2 5.1 6.1 7.1 8.1 8.2 9.1 10.1 11.1 11.2 12.1 13.1 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 15.1 15.2 15.3 16.1 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 18.1 18.2 19.1 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 21.1 21.2
New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on February 13 without taking up the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 for discussion and passage in the house. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on January 8. The upper house was adjourned without setting a later date for convening after it passed a few bills without a debate, including the Interim Budget and Finance Bill for 2019. Over the last few weeks, Assam, along with the rest of the Northeastern states, witnessed a slew of protests and bandhs opposing the Bill. The protests – that accelerated after the Bill was passed in the lower house – gained further momentum after the revised list of business of the Rajya Sabha on February 11 scheduled it for a vote. Many opposition leaders from the region, civil society activists, student leaders as well as those from parties allied to the ruling-BJP have also trooped into Delhi to register their disapproval to the central government. Several flash protests were also carried out in the national capital, where effigies of Narendra Modi and Union home minister Rajnath Singh were set on fire. Also read: As Widespread Protests Continue, Citizenship Bill to Be Tabled in Rajya Sabha Today Complications The Bill is intended to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Sikhs and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan on the grounds of religious persecution, even if they entered the country without valid documents till December 31, 2014. While the government – through the Bill – tried to legalise awarding citizenship on religious grounds, the indigenous people of Assam and the Northeast expressed stern opposition to it. They feared that many undocumented Hindus from Bangladesh residing in the region would be granted citizenship and would, in turn, challenge the cultural and political hegemony of the indigenous people in the long run. The amendment is also in contradiction to the Assam Accord of 1985, as per which any foreigner (from Bangladesh or elsewhere) – Hindu or Muslim – who entered the state after March 24, 1971, would have to be detected and deported to their country of origin. The ordinance route to implement proposed amendments However, with the adjournment of the the Rajya Sabha without discussing it, the Bill has practically lapsed. Constitutional expert P.D.T. Achary explains, “If a Bill is passed by the Lok Sabha and not by the Rajya Sabha, naturally it has lapsed.” The Bill will now have to be reintroduced in the new Lok Sabha. But the lapse of a Bill in Parliament doesn’t prevent the incumbent government from issuing an ordinance to bring forth the amendment it intended to through the Bill. “If they feel so, the government of the day can always bring an ordinance to that effect, whether the house is dissolved or not. An ordinance can be brought under two conditions. One, when the house is not in session. Two, when there is an urgency and the president is convinced of it.” In March 2014, barely a month before the general elections, the Manmohan Singh Government passed an ordinance to insert amendments in to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. But the Bill was not passed by the Lok Sabha, unlike the Citizenship (Amendment) Act – which was. It was later introduced in the Lok Sabha only in July 2014. Also read: Debate: Professor Hiren Gohain, Let’s Talk About Assam Again Achary, however, pointed out: “The government can still issue an ordinance. The important point to be kept in mind here is not whether it was passed by/or introduced in the Lok Sabha, but that Parliament is not in session. If it is in session, an ordinance has to be approved by it within six weeks. Else it would lapse.” The life of an ordinance is six months. But the government can renew it. Aside from the Citizenship Bill passed by the Lok Sabha, three other contentious Bills passed by the lower house – the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill or the Triple Talaq Bill, the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill 2019, and the Transgender Persons (Protection) of Rights Bill, 2019 – also lapsed as they were not passed by the Rajya Sabha in the concluding session of the 16th Lok Sabha. Meanwhile, replying to a query by Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, the minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, in a written reply, said today that the government awarded Indian citizenship to 1,595 persons from Pakistan and 392 from Afghanistan. He said since 2018, 295 Hindus from Afghanistan and Pakistan were granted Indian citizenship. They were granted citizenship through multiple notifications issued by the Modi government to grant citizenship to persons belonging to the identified six groups from the three neighbouring countries on religious grounds. However, figures on Hindu-Bangladeshis was not given as the questions asked were outside its purview. In January, a civil society group from Assam filed a PIL against the government’s notifications in the Supreme Court. The court adjourned the hearing indefinitely, asking the petitioners to wait until the Citizenship Bill became an Act.
1.1 2.1 3.1 4.1 5.1 6.1 7.1
काठमाडौं – सरकार केही दिनमै नागरिकतासम्बन्धी विधेयक संसद्मा पेस गर्ने तयारीमा रहेका बेला प्रमुख प्रतिपक्षी एमालेले त्यसलाई अस्वीकार गर्ने जनाएको छ। एमाले अध्यक्ष केपी शर्मा ओलीले गृहमन्त्री बालकृष्ण खाँण र कानुनमन्त्री गोविन्द शर्मासँग विधेयकलाई स्वीकार गर्न नसकिने बताएका हुन्। संसद्मा पेस गर्न लागिएको नागरिकतासम्बन्धी विधेयकबारे छलफल गर्न मन्त्रीद्वय असार ३ गते ओली निवास बालकोट पुगेका थिए। भेटमा मन्त्रीद्वयले ओली सरकारकै पालामा २०७८ जेठ ९ गते ल्याइएको नागरिकता सम्बन्धी अध्यादेशलाई नै अहिले विधेयकका रूपमा संसद्मा ल्याउन लागिएको जानकारी गराएका थिए। उनीहरूले सहमतिमा सोही अध्यादेशलाई विधेयकका रूपमा अघि बढाउन प्रस्ताव राख्दा ओलीले पहिलेको र अहिलेको सन्दर्भ फरक भएको भन्दै समर्थन गर्न नसकिने बताएका थिए। ‘तपाईंको सरकारका पालामा ल्याइएको अध्यादेशलाई नै विधेयकका रूपमा संसद्मा पेस गर्न लागेका छौं, सहयोग चाहियो भनेका थियौं तर उहाँले अहिलेको सन्दर्भ र समय फरक भएकाले समर्थन गर्न नसकिने बताउनुभयो,’ गृहमन्त्री निकट स्रोतले भन्यो। ओलीले अहिलेको अवस्थामा राष्ट्रिय सहमति कायम गरेर मात्रै विधेयक ल्याउन आग्रह गरेका थिए। उनले पुरानो सन्दर्भमा आएको अध्यादेशलाई कोट्याउन जरुरी नभएको भन्दै निर्वाचनका मुखमा नागरिकता विधेयक ल्याउन उचित नहुने धारणा राखेको स्रोतको दाबी छ। ओलीसँग छलफल गरेर बाहिर निस्केपछि गृहमन्त्री खाँणले नागरिकता विधेयक सदनमा अगाडि बढाउने र दलीय सहमतिमा पास गर्ने प्रयासस्वरूप प्रमुख प्रतिपक्षी एमालेका अध्यक्ष ओलीलाई भेटेको बताउँदै कुराकानी सकारात्मक भएको जनाएका थिए। तर ओलीसँग सहमति बन्न नसकेपछि अहिलेसम्म विधेयकलाई रोकेर राखिएको छ। ‘अब एकदुई दिनभित्रै संसद्मा विधेयक आउनेछ। अब धेरै समय लाग्दैन,’ गृह मन्त्रालय स्रोतले भन्यो। गृहमन्त्री खाँणले नागरिकता विधेयकबारे पटकपटक दलहरूसँग छलफल गरिरहेका छन्। ओलीसँग भेट्नुअघि नेकपा माओवादी केन्द्रका अध्यक्ष पुष्पकमल दाहाल र जनता समाजवादी पार्टी (जसपा) का अध्यक्ष उपेन्द्र यादवलाई भेटेर गृहमन्त्री खाँणले दलीय सहमतिमा नागरिकता विधेयक सदनमा पेस गर्ने विषयमा कुराकानी गरेका थिए। गृह मन्त्रालय स्रोतका अनुसार सरकारमा रहेका दलहरू सो विधेयकप्रति सहमत भइसकेका छन्। माओवादी अध्यक्ष दाहालले पनि गृहमन्त्री खाँणलाई विधेयक अघि बढाउन आग्रह गरिसकेका कारण केही दिनभित्रै संसद्मा पेस गर्ने तयारीमा सरकार छ। नेपाल नागरिकता ऐन, २०६३ लाई संशोधन गर्न बनेको विधेयक राज्य व्यवस्था तथा सुशासन समितिले पास गरिसकेको छ।