According to the annual report released on Monday, authorities including the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued 1,414 citizenship certificates in 2021.
According to the MHA annual report 2021-22, from 1 April 2021 to 31 December 2021, 1,120 citizenship certificates were awarded through registration under section 5 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and 294 were granted by naturalisation under section 6.
The Central Government delegated to Collectors of 13 more districts and Home Secretaries of two more States the authority to grant Indian citizenship by registration or naturalisation to foreigners belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Budhist, Christian, or Parsi communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Collectors in 29 districts and Home Secretaries in 9 states are now permitted to issue citizenship to the aforementioned categories of migrants. According to the report, the delegation would expedite the process of giving Indian citizenship to the aforementioned category of migrants because the decision will be made at the local level.
The report further reads that an online module has been activated under the “Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) platform on August 22, 2021 to process the applications for renunciation of Indian citizenship.
“Through this module, an Indian citizen of full age and capacity may apply online for renunciation of Indian citizenship. End to end processing of applications for renunciation of Indian citizenship has been made online. This online processing aims to reduce compliance burden and to bring transparency in processing of application for renunciation of Indian citizenship,” read the report.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has been implementing a Plan Scheme “Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration and Tracking (IVFRT)”.
