Religion column appears in Indian citizenship application form
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New Delhi: Anyone applying for Indian citizenship will have to fill up the column ‘religion’ henceforth.
The Home Ministry has made it mandatory through norms notified on the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2018, on October18.
As per the new rules, “ any person of Indian origin while seeking citizenship for a person married to an Indian citizen, a child born abroad to citizens, a person whose parents are registered as India citizens and a person whose either parent has been a citizen of independent India will have to make the declaration”, Economic Times reported
However, the Home Ministry stated that the amendments on religion were applicable only for minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan seeking Indian citizenship.
The Citizenship Act, 1955 didn’t require religion to be mentioned. The Citizenship Rules of 2009 didn’t want persons seeking citizenship to furnish religious details.
