Citizenship (Amendment) Bill: Which regions have been exempted and why

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The Lok Sabha, on December 9, passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, that seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The Bill was passed shortly after midnight following a long debate that lasted over seven hours.

According to the contentious Bill, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014, and facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants and would be eligible for Indian citizenship.

The Bill, which was passed in the Lok Sabha with 311 members favouring it and 80 voting against it, will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha for its nod.

While the Bill has sparked protests in the Northeast, there are regions where it will not be applicable. The tribal areas of Assam have been kept out of the proposed law's ambit as it is governed under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

Along with Assam, tribal areas of Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura have also exempted from CAB, as they also listed under the Sixth Schedule.

Besides these tribal regions of the four states, the areas covered under The Inner Line Permit (ILP), notified under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. ILP is an official travel document issued by the government to grant inward travel of an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.

The Bill would not be applicable to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram where the ILP system exists.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also said that Manipur will be brought under the ILP regime. The Manipur People Against CAB (MANPAC), which has spearheaded the agitation in the state, announced suspension of its stir after the December 9 announcement.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had introduced the Bill in its previous tenure and had received the 16th Lok Sabha's approval. However, it was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha amid protests in the Northeast. The Bill had lapsed after the 16th Lok Sabha was dissolved.