The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, Explained

The Citizenship Amendment Act was passed in 2019. And the country erupted in protest. It's been three years since and the law is yet to be implemented. But the dialogues it gave rise to continue to be relevant: democracy, freedom, equality.

And the elephant in the room, citizenship. And so we continue the conversation in this video by diving into the story of citizenship in India. How did our constitution-writers envision it? What was its historical trajectory through independent India? And how does CAA feature in this tale? We also explore the constitutional validity of the act. Does it hold under international laws and conventions? How does CAA interact with the NRC and the NPR? What is the political context of this legislation? Is citizenship an inherent human right?

READINGS:

1. The Citizenship Act, 1955 https://indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in/UserGuide/Citizenship_Act_1955_16042019.pdf Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019
2. http://164.100.47.4/BillsTexts/LSBillTexts/asintroduced/370_2019_LS_Eng.pdf Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019
3. https://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/214646.pdf Joint Parliament Committee Report
4. https://prsindia.org/files/bills_acts/bills_parliament/2016/Joint%20committee%20report%20on%20citizenship%20(A)%20bill.pdf Union of India, Counter Affidavit https://images.assettype.com/barandbench/2020-03/ce48cef8-485a-4f2f-8026-4882405092f8/Central_Government_CAA_Counter_Affidavit.pdf
5. Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 and International Law https://statelessnessandcitizenshipreview.com/index.php/journal/issue/view/11
6. Hilal Ahmed, Making Sense of India’s Citizenship Amendment Act 2019: Process, Politics, Protests https://www.csds.in/uploads/custom_files/1593411719_Making%20sense%20of%20the%20Citizenship%20Amendment%20Act%20(CAA)%202019%20Process,%20Politics,%20Protests.pdf