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<ul><li>Indian government is pushing to amend the Citizenship bill 2016. </li><li>New bill will allow illegal immigrants from specific religions to become citizens. </li><li>Assam is witnessing continuous protests as the bill enters Rajya Sabha for debate.</li></ul>India’s Narendra Modi government is <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/top-bureaucrats-in-assam-concede-situation-is-challenging/story-lAEMW9tS4HdJ7ZkPdHsTuN.html">pushing for a bill</a> which will make illegal migrants from six religions and three countries — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — eligible for Indian citizenship. Even allies like <keyword id="195349" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Conrad-Sangma">Conrad Sangma</keyword>, the chief minister of Meghalaya whose party is part of the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has opposed the amendments. Representatives of 11 political parties met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday to lodge their protest. Even the Manipur-based filmmaker and music composer Aribam Syam Sharma has decided to return his 2006 Padma Shri award in protest. 
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a BJP rally in Silchar, Assam on Jan 4, 2019. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in lower house of the Parliament, Lok Sabha, on 8 January, 2019. However, the upper house of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, will debate this bill in its ongoing session. Ahead of the debate, protests have broken out in the north eastern state of Assam, where citizens alleged that the new bill violates the Assam Accord, 1985 — which led to deportation of illegal immigrants in the state regardless of their religion. Last week families of around 855 martyrs of the anti-foreigners Assam Agitation of 1979-1985 returned the citation that the government had given them in 2016. Unrest over the issue has sparked violent protests in state for over a month now, and Assam police has reportedly grounded over 15 people. On Friday, two people<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/3-stage-nude-protest-outside-assam-secretariat-over-citizenship-bill-1986978"> stripped down </a>while a third person was found naked outside the Assam Secretariat in Guwahati, Assam. 
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 Three men stage a nude protest near the Assam Secretariat in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Guwahati on Feb 1, 2019. The protesters were swiftly removed by security personnel. “India is a democracy, though people have the right to voice their ideas and demands, such actions are not appreciated in society,” <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/assam-admits-protests-over-citizenship-bill-a-challenge-calls-for-calm-1987411">said</a> Assam Chief Secretary Alok Kumar. The Bill makes illegal immigrants eligible for citizenship on the basis of religion. This may violate Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees right to equality, according to public policy research organisation PRS. This includes amendments to permit cancellations of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) — which permits foreign citizens of Indian origin to stay and work in India. “This is a wide ground that may cover a range of violations, including minor offences (eg. parking in a no parking zone),” PRS said. Violence in other parts of the country Not just Assam, the bill faced protests from around the world — students from different universities in Assam gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi going against the central government holding placards that said ‘No to Citizenship Amendment Bill’, ‘Down with Citizenship Amendment Bill’ seeking the government to rollback the amendments. 
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Activists of All Assam Students Union (AASU) block National Highway 37 as they stage a demonstration against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, in Guwahati on Jan 29, 2019. The growing unrest will be a challenge for the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls. The party has recently emerged as a political alternative in north east India. The party has managed to form the government in three out of the seven states in the region in recent years. However, the ongoing agitations may polarise the voters ahead of the next pan-India elections, and divide the votes. Defending the amendments proposed in the bill, BJP President Amit Shah <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/citizenship-bill-necessary-says-amit-shah/article26168945.ece">reportedly said</a> that “There are some decisions that are acceptable to some, not acceptable to others. The BJP has thought deeply about the Citizenship Amendment Bill before bringing it. We cannot leave a large swathe of people fleeing persecution hanging in mid-air. We believe that the Bill is necessary for the country,” he said.

India’s Citizenship Bill is faced with growing protests

Several academicians, former bureaucrats and judges, writers, artistes and scientists have expressed outrage over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill calling it "divisive" and violative of the Constitution and asked the government to withdraw it. In separate letters and petitions, they asserted that the proposed legislation threatens the federal framework provided by the Constitution and will fundamentally alter the character of the Indian republic if it comes into force. In an open letter, about 600 writers, artists, activists, former bureaucrats, ex-judges asked the government not to betray the Constitution. The signatories include historian Romila Thapar, author Amitav Ghosh, actor Nandita Das, filmmakers Aparna Sen and Anand Patwardhan, activists Yogendra Yadav Teesta Setalvad, Harsh Mander, Aruna Roy and Bezwada Wilson, former Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah and the country's first CIC Wajahat Habibullah among others. "All of us from the cultural and academic communities condemn this bill as divisive, discriminatory and unconstitutional. It will, along with a nationwide NRC, bring untold suffering to people across the country. It will damage, fundamentally and irreparably, the nature of the Indian republic. This is why we demand that the government withdraw the bill. "This is why we demand that the government not betray the Constitution. We call on all people of conscience to insist that the Constitutional commitment to an equal and secular citizenry be honoured," the letter states. The Lok Sabha passed the bill a little past midnight on Monday after a heated debate that lasted over seven hours. The contentious Bill will be discussed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution there. According to the proposed legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31 2014 facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship. If religious persecution was the logic presented in the bill, then why were refugees such as Rohingyas from Myanmar or Hindu or Muslim Tamils from Sri Lanka or Ahmadis from Pakistan left out, the signatories asked. "Why focus on only three countries as if these constitute the only possible sources of asylum-seekers?" they asked, stressing on the need to have a refugee policy in line with international law, not a legislation dictated by an ideology that makes use of religion for political gains. "The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 tears to shreds the inclusive, composite vision of India that guided our freedom struggle. In the amendments it introduces to the Citizenship Act of 1955, the new Bill violates every single one of these fundamentals of the Constitution," the letter states. After the legislation got the nod of the Lower House, civil rights activist Mander said if the bill is passed, he will practice civil disobedience. "I will officially register as a Muslim. I will then refuse to submit any documents to NRC. I will finally demand the same punishment as any undocumented Muslim -- detention centre &amp; withdrawn citizenship. Join this civil disobedience," Mander tweeted. In a separate petition, a group of scientists and academicians said the use of religion as a criterion for citizenship in the proposed bill would mark a radical break and would be inconsistent with the basic structure of the Constitution. Academician Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a signatory to the petition, said the citizenship bill will convert a constitutional democracy into a unconstitutional ethnocracy. "We can debate the past forever. But with <keyword id="6363576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="cab">CAB</keyword> India takes a giant step to officially convert a constitutional democracy into a unconstitutional ethnocracy," he tweeted. Academician Ramchandra Guha hit out at Home Minister <keyword id="6355521" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="amit-shah">Amit Shah</keyword> and said he was a professed Savarakrite and had no issue with Muhammad Ali Jinnah's two-nation theory. "Savarkar, 1943: I have no quarrel with Mr Jinnah's two-nation theory. We Hindus are a nation by ourselves and it is a historical fact that Hindus and Muslims are two nations'. The home minister, a professed Savarkarite, has no quarrel with Mr Jinnah's two-nation theory either," Guha tweeted. The petition said the idea of India emerged from the independence movement, and as enshrined in the Constitution, is that of a country that aspires to treat people of all faiths equally. "The use of religion as a criterion for citizenship in the proposed bill would mark a radical break with this history and would be inconsistent with the basic structure of the Constitution. We fear, in particular, that the careful exclusion of Muslims from the ambit of the bill will greatly strain the pluralistic fabric of the country," the petition noted. The petitioners include those affiliated to Harvard University, Masachussets University, Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Indian Institute of Science, Delhi University, Chennai Mathematical Institute, International Centre for Theoretical Science, Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, the University of Bonn, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Oslo. Over 230 activists and academicians from Gujarat also wrote an open letter expressing concern over the bill. Some social organisations in Pune appealed to the Maharashtra government to move Supreme Court against the bill.

Romila Thapar, Amitav Ghosh, Nandita Das join 600 writers and artists to seek withdrawal of Citizenship Bill

<ul class="summary-list"><li>India's parliament passed a new amendment to its citizenship law earlier this month, providing a pathway to citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities while singling out its minority Muslim population. </li><li>The amended act has been <a href="https://twitter.com/UNHumanRights/status/1205451656495861761">slammed by critics</a> and has sparked deadly protests around the country.</li><li>The fight that has erupted over the citizenship bill is reflective of the country's <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2124474/india-no-country-muslims">rising tide of bigotry</a> directed towards minorities, in particular, its Muslim population, which makes up about 14% of the country's massive 1.3 billion people.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>A controversial amendment to a law was recently passed in India, sparking deadly protests around the country and leading some to question the country's democratic values.On December 11, India's parliament passed an amendment to its Citizenship Act of 1955, which sets out guidelines for becoming a citizen in the country. The 2019 revision added a religious element to the bill, providing a pathway to citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities who fled neighboring Muslim-majority countries Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The amended act has been <a href="https://twitter.com/UNHumanRights/status/1205451656495861761">slammed by critics</a> as anti-Islam, and they say it further marginalizes India's sizeable Muslim minority. Violent protests have erupted across the country in response, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-burning-protests-new-citizenship-act-2019-12">resulting in the deaths of six people</a>. Dozens more have been arrested or injured in clashes with police.The fight that has erupted over the citizenship bill is reflective of the country's <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2124474/india-no-country-muslims">rising tide of bigotry</a> directed towards minorities, in particular, its Muslim population, which makes up about 14% of the country's massive 1.3 billion people.The bill has also handed more power to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government in crafting a country which affords more rights to its Hindu majority and leaves room for further discrimination in the areas of governance and public space. <h2>What exactly does the bill say?</h2>India's Citizenship Act was first established in 1955 and created comprehensive guidelines related to citizenship in the country.It has been amended several times, including at 2003 amendment that authorized the government to keep a national register of all of its citizens (referred to as the NRC). Today, the register has not yet been implemented except in the northeastern state of Assam, which is home to a Muslim-majority population. The most recent changes to the Citizenship Act (often referred to locally as CAB or CAA) were passed by India's lower house of parliament - the Lok Sabha - on December 10, before being cleared by the upper house of parliament - the Rajya Sabha - a day later. The bill was signed into law by President Ram Nath Kovind.The bill was introduced by Indian home affairs minister Amit Shah, a leading member of ‎Modi's right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, and it promised to provide refuge for persecuted religious minorities from three neighboring Muslim-majority countries who entered India before 2015.Notably, the act excludes Muslim migrants "as they do not face religious persecution in these Islamic countries," India's parliament <a href="https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=195783">said in a statement</a> after the bill's passage. The bill also leaves out two neighboring Buddhist countries, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, which have experienced major refugee crises in recent years. There are about 59,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees residing in over 100 camps in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, according to <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article30328790.ece">Indian magazine Frontline</a>, and about 30,000 that live outside these camps.The bill also ignores what the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22491&amp;LangID=E">UN has deemed the world's most persecuted minority</a>, the Rohingya Muslims, who suffered ethnic and religious cleansing at the hands of the Burmese military in Myanmar. Authorities <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-india-idUSKCN1AU0UC">have reportedly pledged</a> to deport the estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees currently residing in India, despite facing danger in their home state. "The only religion that the Modi government follows is the Constitution of India," the statement added.In the statement, Shah "reiterated that the Bill is not against any Minority in India and the rights of each Indian Citizen will be equally protected."The bill does not apply to Assam and other indigenous areas.A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25425&amp;LangID=E">called</a> the act "discriminatory in nature" and said it undermines India's democratic framework:"The law isn't truly about protecting the region's religious minorities," <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/17/india-citizenship-law-protests-narendra-modi-amit-shah-founding-fathers/">wrote Ravi Agrawal and Kathryn Salam of Foreign Policy</a>. "Instead, it challenges India's secularism by making religion part of the basis for citizenship."The Citizenship Act has spurred thousands of people from human rights groups, universities and religious groups to come out in protest this month. On December 15, clashes between police and students escalated on two Muslim university campuses - Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh and of Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi - resulting in police <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/17/india-protests-students-condemn-barbaric-police">using batons and tear gas on students</a>.The unrest has even led authorities to deploy army personnel and <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/curfew-relaxed-few-hours-guwahati-assam-boils-caa-1628386-2019-12-15">impose a curfew in Assam</a>, as protests boil over. <h2>This is not the first time the government has targeted its Muslim population</h2>India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has taken steps to further marginalize the country's Muslim population since coming into power in 2014.The NRC's exclusive use in Assam has been derided by critics as a way to of stoking religious tensions. According to a <a href="http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW18C-01%20MDDS.XLS">2011 census</a>, Muslims makeup nearly 35% of Assam's population, and are a majority in eight of the state's districts. <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/assam-final-nrc-list-out-over-19-lakh-people-excluded-1593769-2019-08-31">In August</a>, 1.9 million people from the region were excluded from the register, effectively stripping them of citizenship. <a href="https://amnesty.org.in/news-update/uncertain-destiny-for-millions-in-assam-post-nrc/">Amnesty International</a> has criticized the NRC and says it leaves the futures of millions of people in the region uncertain.In September, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-building-mass-detention-center-illegal-immigrants-assam-citizenship-2019-9/commerce-on-business-insider">India began construction</a> on a large-scale detention center in the Goalpara district of Assam meant to hold at least 3,000 detainees, according to Reuters. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kashmir-india-revoke-article-370-quasi-independence-internet-tourists-2019-8">And in August</a>, India also revoked part of its constitution which gave the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir a special status and quasi-independence. Over the past four months, Kashmir, which is home to a significant Muslim population, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/kashmiri-artists-resisting-india-months-long-lockdown-191207062705088.html">has been off from communication, held on lockdown</a>, and is now directly under the control of India's federal government in New Delhi. As part of shutting down communication, residents in Kashmir have lost access to phone lines and the internet. According to advocacy groups, the internet shutdown in the region is the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-internet-shutdown-in-kashmir-is-now-the-longest-ever-in-a-democracy/2019/12/15/bb0693ea-1dfc-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html">longest-ever crackdown imposed on a democracy</a>. Only authoritarian countries, like China and Myanmar, have experienced longer internet shutdowns.The four-month internet blackout has been so severe that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-kashmir-accounts-removed-internet-blackout-2019-12">WhatsApp is deleting the accounts</a> of residents in the region because they've been inactive for so long. <h2>State-sanctioned discrimination against Muslims has had dire consequences</h2>The Modi government's attitudes and policies towards minority groups has sparked racially motivated clashes, and observers say that the ruling Hindu party has fostered a culture of impunity through its inaction in addressing violence.Shah, who crafted the citizenship bill, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/india-election-speech/amit-shah-vows-to-throw-illegal-immigrants-into-bay-of-bengal-idUSKCN1RO1YD">vowed in April</a> to throw illegal Muslim immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal. He has also <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/bjp-amit-shah-hindu-refugees-mamata-bannerjee-1499691-2019-04-11">previously referred</a> to illegal immigrants as "termites." India has also seen an increase in attacks against its Muslim minority in recent months. A February 2019 report from <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/02/18/violent-cow-protection-india/vigilante-groups-attack-minorities">Human Rights Watch</a> found that between May 2015 and December 2018, at least 36 Muslims were killed across 12 Indian states. Roughly 280 people were injured across 20 states during the same period, the rights group added.In a particularly gruesome case last year, an eight-year-old Muslim girl was kidnapped, raped, and killed in Jammu and Kashmir by a group of Hindu men with the intention of committing the crime <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/six-men-convicted-in-rape-of-8-year-old-girl-that-shocked-india/2019/06/10/cde7b17c-8b5f-11e9-b162-8f6f41ec3c04_story.html">in order to drive away Muslim nomads in the area</a>. The country has also seen a <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/asia/in-southern-kashmir-there-s-little-enthusiasm-for-india-s-elections-26253">crackdown on protests</a>, attacks on the <a href="https://thewire.in/politics/narendra-modi-amit-shah-bjp-india-media">free press</a>, and history books <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/india-modi-culture/">have been rewritten</a> in favor of Hindu achievements.<h2>India is inching towards fascism</h2>Experts have noted that India is straying away from its democratic values under the Bharatiya Janata Party. "There is absolute political consensus within the Bharatiya Janata Party that India is culturally a Hindu country," Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-12-17/citizenship-law-moves-india-closer-to-being-hindu-country">Los Angeles Times</a>. Harish Pullanoor, an editor at Quartz India, <a href="https://qz.com/india/844672/along-with-narendra-modis-rise-india-has-displayed-classic-signs-that-foreshadow-fascism/">wrote</a> in 2016 that India was "displaying classic signs that foreshadow fascism," including the disenfranchisement of religious minorities. "The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders," wrote Umberto Eco, an Italian philosopher, who wrote of a <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/">list of features</a> that define a fascist state.In April, several Muslim merchants in Old Delhi described fears of religiously-motivated violence against them. "I could be lynched right now and nobody would do anything about it," Abdul Adnan, a Muslim businessman, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/world/asia/modi-india-elections.html">The New York Times</a>. "My government doesn't even consider me Indian. How can that be when my ancestors have lived here hundreds of years?"According to The Times, the consensus among Indian activists and liberal political analysts is that the country, under Modi, has become "more toxically divided between Hindus and Muslims.""In plain language, they are what we now call communal fascists," Aditya Mukherjee, a retired historian told The Times. Historian Ramachandra Guha wrote in an op-ed in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/india-was-miracle-democracy-its-time-downgrade-its-credentials/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/india-was-miracle-democracy-its-time-downgrade-its-credentials/">The Washington Post</a> in August that it was time to downgrade India's status as a world-class democracy. "Given the lack of any sort of credible opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the atmosphere of fear among religious minorities and the attacks on a free press, we are now a 40-60 democracy," he wrote of India.

The world's largest democracy is heading toward modern-day fascism

<ul><li>The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 is one of the primary issues in the north east states that are going to vote today. </li><li>While the BJP is playing the development card, Congress is stressing how they can stop the bill from becoming a reality. </li><li>It’s an obstacle for BJP since they even reiterate wanting to enact the bill in their election manifesto.</li></ul> As the first phase of India’s general election begins, the north east states of India will be voting against the backdrop of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 and the ongoing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-citizenship-bill-assam-protests-rise-conrad-sangma-and-aribam-syam-sharma-join/articleshow/67830987.cms">protests</a> in Assam. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) first introduced this bill in the lower house of parliament — the Lok Sabha — during the winter session, but it is still pending approval from the upper house, the Rajya Sabha. Despite severe opposition, in its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/bjp-manifesto-for-lok-sabha-election-2019-on-data-privacy-and-protection/articleshow/68775987.cms">election manifesto</a>, the BJP <a href="https://www.bjp.org/en/manifesto2019">reiterated</a> its commitment towards the bill saying that it is “for the protection of individuals of religious minority communities from neighbouring countries escaping persecution.” There are two facets to why some people have an issue with the new amendment. First off, Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Bhuddists and Parsis from the neighboring countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan will be able to apply for citizenship provided they’ve been in India for seven years. In contrast, the currently provision requires 12 years of residence in India in order to eligible for citizenship. Secondly, it’s in contradiction to the Assam Accord. The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 wants to grant nationality to non-Muslims who have come into India upto December 31, 2014. But, the Assam Accord dictates that all immigrants to have entered the country illegally after 1971 have to be deported — irrespective of religion. The fear is that in relaxing the norms around citizenship, as many as 20 million Hindus will migrate from Bangladesh to India and wipe out the local communities. Not to mention that the new amendment completely ignores Muslims. Nearly 4 million are, more or less, illegal immigrants since the final draft list of the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45082757">released</a> to determine the citizenship of nearly 15 million migrants in north east India. India’s current prime minister and a member of the BJP has repeatedly asserted that illegal Muslim immigrants will be deported. Some feel that Bangladesh is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45002670">unlikely</a> to accept such a request, and thus, this may end up being another Rohingya where a large amount of people will be left stateless. Congress has played that card to their advantage backing the voters and assuring them that the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 is a serious threat to their existence. The BJP has cautiously stated that they will “not take any step that hurts the interests of Assamese and other indigenous communities” and has switched gears to focus on development in the north east states highlighting how the Modi government has been able to complete multiple infrastructure projects in the area. Nonetheless, the continuous tensions have had a polarising effect in the north east states. On April 7, a Muslim man was heckled and abused for ‘selling beef’ and also made to eat pork, even though that goes against his religion. Fourteen out of 25 north east’s parliamentary constituencies are going to go to the polls today and the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 is one of the major issues in these states.

The north-east of India is voting to decide whether 4 million undocumented people should continue living in India

<ul class="summary-list"><li>People across India are protesting two controversial citizenship laws that critics say target Muslims.</li><li>The two acts, known as the NRC and the CAA, would provide a path to citizenship for several minority groups and foreigners in India, but exclude Muslims.</li><li>India's deeply religious roots are now at odds with its secular constitution.</li><li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderToday/">View more episodes of Business Insider Today on Facebook.</a></li></ul>Following is a transcript of an episode of Business Insider Today. Watch the full episode <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderToday/videos/1344754715706477">here</a>.In this coastal town in India, workers split bamboo stalks with a machete. They cut and shape them to make fences, homes, and baskets.Ala Uddin was born and raised in the northeastern state of Assam, but after the government implemented a citizenship list, he found himself fighting to prove his identity as an Indian national.Ala Uddin, bamboo worker: "The people are frightened. They feel scared that they might be sent to the detention camps."Ala Uddin is one of the lucky ones. His family is on the registry. But there are still 1.9 million people living in Assam whose <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-politics-citizenship/india-leaves-nearly-two-million-people-off-citizens-list-fate-uncertain-idUSKCN1VL04W">citizenship remains in limbo</a>.In recent months, protests have erupted across India due to two controversial laws that critics say target Muslim immigrants, and even those born here.At odds are the country's deeply religious roots and its secular constitution.Ala Uddin travels from his small island to the town of Dhubri, making on average 250 rupees, or $3.50 a day, to provide for his mother, wife, and four children.But when the National Register of Citizens, or NRC, was enforced, things changed.Uddin: "When I heard about NRC I was shocked. I was completely shocked. Even though the paperwork was there, I had to leave my job and run around to get the paperwork ready."In a country like India, not everyone has their documents in order, says Milan Vaishnav, an expert on South Asian politics.Milan Vaishnav, director and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: "India is a very poor country. Even today, only about 70% of births happen with an official birth certificate. So a lot of people cannot prove their citizenship status. They're worried that this essentially is going to disenfranchise a bunch of genuine citizens who simply are either too poor or come from the wrong community to be able to justify their existence."Uddin: "I was trying to trace my ancestors and relatives, trying to trace my grandfather and my uncles. Trying to figure it out was very stressful.""The hearings were held at rather far-off places. Per person one had to spend 500 rupees to travel one way, so it's 1,000 rupees worth of commuting both ways in a day."The Indian government has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-explainer/explainer-why-indias-new-citizenship-plans-are-stirring-protests-idUSKBN1YR0WL">discussed the possibility</a> of rolling out NRC in the entire country by 2021.On top of that, parliament passed the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-explainer/explainer-why-indias-new-citizenship-plans-are-stirring-protests-idUSKBN1YR0WL">Citizenship Amendment Act</a>, or CAA, which gives minorities originally from neighboring countries a faster path to citizenship - but it excludes Muslims.Vaishnav: "If India were to carry out a nationwide citizens register, and there are people who are deemed to be illegal migrants, illegal residents, not genuine citizens, if you are a Muslim, you will essentially will be deemed perhaps a stateless person, and your citizenship, your voting rights would be taken away."People who are not considered citizens <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49520593">fear being sent to detention centers</a>, even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has denied the camps exist.Across the country, Indians of all faiths have been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-explainer/explainer-why-indias-new-citizenship-plans-are-stirring-protests-idUSKBN1YR0WL">protesting for months</a>. They claim these laws go against the constitution by deciding citizenship on the basis of religion.Demonstrator: "This bill is unconstitutional, it is communal."Demonstrator: "I got this Indian flag painted because I need to prove that I am Indian."But in some areas the demonstrations turned violent. Twenty-seven people have been killed since the government passed the citizenship act in December.During the unrest, the government shut off internet and phone networks in large areas of the country.Critics say the NRC and CAA laws are just the latest in a series of moves by Modi that are driving India toward being a Hindu nationalist country.Vaishnav: "This is an ideology which has been present going back to the 19th century. This is not a new phenomenon. At the time of India's founding in the 1940s, there was a debate about should India be an avowedly, explicitly Hindu country?"Even though India chose a secular path, today Hindus <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/21/by-2050-india-to-have-worlds-largest-populations-of-hindus-and-muslims/">make up the majority</a> at roughly 80% of the population, while Muslims account for 15%.And now many fear that the minority voice is being muffled by Modi's laws.Last month, India's Supreme Court <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/india-supreme-court-refuses-stay-citizenship-law-200122061532294.html">refused to put a hold</a> on the CAA. Instead it will hear arguments from the government in favor of the law. Meanwhile, several Indian states have said they will not cooperate.In the weeks and months to come, Muslims fear that life in their homeland may get increasingly harder if they can't prove Hindustan is home.

Why Indians are protesting 2 controversial laws that could leave millions of Muslims stateless

<ul class="summary-list"><li>At least 53 people were arrested in <keyword id="24349" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hong-Kong">Hong Kong</keyword> early Wednesday morning under <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>'s draconian <keyword id="1244470" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="National-Security-Law">national security law</keyword>.</li><li>It is the biggest crackdown yet on the city's pro-democracy movement since the law came into force last June.</li><li>Among those arrested is American lawyer John Clancey, who appears to be the first foreigner without dual citizenship to be arrested under the security law.</li><li>Clancey is the treasurer of an organization that planned a primary election for pro-democracy candidates last July, which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.</li><li>All of the people arrested on Wednesday were connected to the primary election.</li></ul>At least 53 people were arrested in early-morning raids in Hong Kong on Wednesday, in China's biggest crackdown yet on the city's pro-democracy movement since imposing a draconian national security law last June.Among them is an American lawyer, John Clancey, who was arrested when police officers raided his law firm, which has represented several of the city's opposition leaders in the past, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/05/asia/hong-kong-national-security-law-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N2JH08X" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a> reported.According to CNN and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/06/dozens-of-hong-kong-pro-democracy-figures-arrested-in-sweeping-crackdown">The Guardian</a>, Clancey is the first foreigner without dual citizenship to be arrested under the city's new national security law, which was imposed by China to quell pro-democracy protests.Clancey is the chairman of the Asian Human Rights Commission and treasurer of Power for Democracy, an organization that planned a primary election for opposition candidates in July, but which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.<div type="image" title="clancey car" height="1333" width="2000" msid="80136327" hostid="261"></div>The dozens of people arrested on Wednesday were directly involved in that primary, including all the candidates who ran, the organizers, and the pollsters, according to a list of the arrests seen by The Guardian. According to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/05/asia/hong-kong-national-security-law-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>, the people arrested on Wednesday were charged with "subverting state power," a crime included in Hong Kong's new security law. A conviction of subversion carries the possibility of three years to life in prison. Anthony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to head the State Department, <a href="https://twitter.com/ABlinken/status/1346663418946859010">tweeted</a> that the arrests were an "assault on those bravely advocating for universal rights.""The Biden-Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijing's crackdown on democracy," Blinken tweeted.<div type="image" title="hong kong march" height="1334" width="2000" msid="80136329" hostid="261"></div>The national security bill was formed as a response to unrest in Hong Kong that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hong-kong-protests-timeline-pro-democracy-violence-2019-8">traces back to 2019</a>, when mass protests were held over a proposed bill which would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China. Many in Hong Kong saw the bill as an attempt by China to gain more power on the city, which had been allowed to operate autonomously since the UK handed control back to China in 1997.While the extradition bill was eventually scrapped, tensions between pro-democracy supporters on the island and China continued, which prompted the harsher, and vaguer, security bill.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-missing-laying-low-china-ant-group-consumer-data-2021-1">As Jack Ma reportedly lays low, Chinese regulators are trying to push his fintech giant Ant Group to share consumer data with Beijing, according to the WSJ</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-death-sentence-banker-lai-xiaomin-bribery-bigamy-2021-1">China has condemned one of the nation's top bankers to death after he was found guilty of accepting $277 million in bribes</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-granting-five-passports-a-minute-hong-kong-residents-2020-12">The UK is reportedly granting a record '5 passports a minute' to Hong Kong residents</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hk-leader-doesnt-have-bank-account-because-of-us-sanctions-2020-11">Hong Kong's leader is being paid in cash due to US sanctions. Carrie Lam earns $56,000 a month and says money is piling up at her house.</a></li></ul>

53 pro-democracy activists, including an American lawyer, arrested in Hong Kong in the city's biggest crackdown yet under China's severe security law

<ul class="generic-article__summary--ul content--ul"><li class="generic-article__summary--li content--li">With at least two major regional elections in 2020, all eyes are on how the BJP will arrest the fallout from the citizenship act and local poll defeats.</li><li class="generic-article__summary--li content--li">Analysts say the BJP will concentrate on centralising power and a hardened focus on Hindu nationalism.</li></ul> December was a difficult month for <a href="https://www.scmp.com/topics/india" class="link-text">India</a> Prime Minister <a href="https://www.scmp.com/topics/narendra-modi" class="link-text">Narendra Modi</a> and Amit Shah, his top lieutenant in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).The BJP is facing the biggest challenge of its five-and-a-half-year rule as it scrambles to defuse crises on multiple fronts. How Modi and Shah, the home minister, respond to these problems could determine whether the party maintains its comfortable political edge over rivals, observers say. The current problems – <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3043741/thousands-take-part-rival-protests-over-indias-citizenship-law" class="link-text">mass protests</a> over a controversial <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3042045/modis-surgical-strike-muslims-puts-india-war-itself" class="link-text">citizenship law</a> and back-to-back state election defeats – are seen in some quarters as an early sign that the public is pushing back against their aggressive advocacy of the Hindu nationalist agenda over broader national interests. Activists wear masks of Home Minister Amit Shah, Indian Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> and West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh during a protest against the citizenship bill. Photo: AFP The two men are lifelong members of RSS, the hardline Hindu nationalist group that serves as the ideological fountainhead of the BJP. Political researcher Neelanjan Sircar said the state election defeats also happened “due to the BJP’s desire to centralise power in Modi and Shah. It does not want strong regional leaders and units”. At the moment, the biggest headache for the BJP going into 2020 is the mass protest action around the country over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed on December 12. The law paves the way for immigrants from non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and <keyword id="6354759" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bangladesh">Bangladesh</keyword> to obtain Indian citizenship. Demonstrators, many of whom are students, say the legislation brings out into the open what they claim is the BJP’s plan to systematically drive out the country’s 200 million Muslims as it seeks to create a Hindu Rashtra, or a Hindu nation. The belief is that the CAA, along with the government’s plan to initiate a National Register of Citizens, will create a scenario wherein Muslims who do not have documents to prove their citizenship will be declared illegal immigrants. Hindus and other minorities will not face such a predicament. Modi and Shah have found themselves in an embarrassing bind over this issue because while Shah had explicitly outlined this plan in multiple speeches – saying it targeted “infiltrators” and not Muslims – Modi came out after the protest to directly contradict this position. The prime minister declared his government had no plans to implement the National Register of Citizens. ELECTION SETBACKS If this was not enough of a quandary, the BJP is also reeling from two setbacks in state elections. Earlier in December, the BJP’s oldest ally, the regional party Shiv Sena – with which it has partnered for 25 years – cut ties with the Modi administration and formed a coalition government with the opposition Congress to govern the state of Maharashtra following state polls there. On Christmas Eve, the BJP lost power in Jharkhand, a small but crucial state which holds 40 per cent of India’s mineral wealth. Despite ruling the state for five years, the BJP could only manage 25 seats in the 81-member assembly, while the Congress and its ally got 46 seats. This was its fifth major loss in regional polls in the last year. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a rally to launch the BJP campaign for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections. Photo: EPA-EFE With at least two major regional elections in 2020, in the capital New Delhi, and in the eastern state of Bihar, all eyes are on how Modi and Shah arrest the fallout from the citizenship act saga and the poll defeats. Also weighing on their popularity is the slowing economy, which grew at its lowest rate since 2013 in the July-September quarter. Sircar, an assistant professor at the Ashoka University in the state of Haryana, cautioned against using state poll results as a crystal ball into Modi and Shah’s longer term fate as the ruling party had been struggling to win state elections even before it cruised to a general election victory in May. The Congress, which held power for decades and which continues to be led by the country’s influential Nehru-Gandhi clan, swept regional polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan months before the general election. But what the results do reveal is that local elections are no longer swayed by Modi’s popularity alone, said Sircar, whose research interests include studying election data. After 2014, when Modi first came to power, his party won state elections in most major states and governed over 70 per cent of India’s land mass until March 2018. This has now come down to half, partly due to the BJP’s efforts to centralise power in the two leaders, said Sircar. Meanwhile, continuing confusion in the opposition ranks is harming efforts to build an anti-BJP front. The Congress, for instance, still has a temporary party chief in <keyword id="689" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sonia-Gandhi">Sonia Gandhi</keyword> after her son and former party chief Rahul Gandhi quit, taking blame for its election defeat. The fragmentation of opposition unity is likely to rear its head during the upcoming Delhi elections, in which the Congress might not want to ally with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to defeat the BJP. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and ex-party president Rahul Gandhi (L) attend a sit-in protest. Photo: AFP HONEYMOON PERIOD Another crucial reason why the current situation might not affect the BJP’s long-term standing is timing. There is an important reason it introduced the legislation in the first six months of its five-year term. “The BJP has been very effective in setting its own narratives and winning elections. Hence, while it does seem like the BJP is floundering, it is too early in its term for it be considered a threat to their popularity,” said Sudha Pai, a retired professor in political science from New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. Pai points to the 2019 elections, when Modi managed to divert attention away from issues such as development, infrastructure, a slump in the economy and the highest unemployment rate in 45 years, to rake up nationalism against Pakistan and come back to power with an enhanced margin. The BJP has probably learned this from experience. In 2016, India’s campuses were rocked with student protests against the government but this did not feature in the discourse during the general elections. The face of the protests, youth activist Kanhaiya Kumar, lost by over 400,000 votes to a controversial BJP leader, Giriraj Singh. A man wearing a mask of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves the BJP flag during a rally in New Delhi. Photo: AP COURSE CORRECTION? Since Modi’s re-election in May, his government’s two major moves – the decision to revoke <a href="https://www.scmp.com/topics/kashmir" class="link-text">Jammu &amp; Kashmir’s special status</a> and bifurcate the state, and the citizenship law amendment – have seen a similar approach being employed. Both were passed in Parliament without much debate, despite acrimonious opposition.Even in the face of the protests, Modi and Shah have remained defiantly supportive of the police action, which has so far resulted in 23 deaths. Most of these occurred in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, where the BJP’s controversial chief minister <keyword id="43254" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yogi-Adityanath">Yogi Adityanath</keyword> hailed the police crackdown. But both Pai and Sircar believe the protests and Jharkhand defeat will come as a rude shock to the BJP. “No matter what the final outcome is, there is a sense that the mood in the country is changing, that nationalism might not be enough to win elections any more and that the BJP is not invincible,” said Pai. Such widespread protests have not occurred in the last few decades. “Somewhere, this is affecting Modi’s popularity, bit by bit,” Pai said. Indian Prime Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi. Photo: DPA Opinions are mixed on whether these issues will result in a course correction in the next four years of the BJP’s term. Sircar does not see a shift by the BJP any time soon. “I don’t see the BJP’s model changing. Centralising power in their own hands is a very important project for both Modi and Shah. Taking decisions without consultation is also integral to it; to consult means to slow down the process,” said Sircar. Pai, however, is slightly more optimistic, but also believes the next four years will see a hardened focus on Hindu nationalism. “It depends on what happens with the protests and how long they sustain. But I think the BJP will realise that nationalism and warmongering have diminishing returns. It will have to deliver.”

After a torrid December, how will India’s Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the BJP fare in 2020?

New Delhi, Dec 13 () Assam and other North Eastern states may face fuel supply issues if the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act continues for another week, as it has already led to the shutdown of refineries and oil-producing facilities in the region.
 Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has been forced to shut down its Digboi refinery in Assam and is operating Guwahati unit at minimal throughput, while Oil India Ltd has been forced to shut LPG production and its crude oil production has dropped by 15-20 per cent, multiple sources at the state-owned companies said.
 Sources said the agitation has blocked the movement of tankers and trucks, which are mostly used to supply petrol, diesel and LPG from the refineries to different parts of the North East.
 With limited storage capacity, the companies have been forced to curtail production in absence of products being evacuated, they said.
 Oil India Ltd has shut LPG production for the same reason, they said, adding the agitation has also limited movement of employees and officers who work at the refineries and oil installations.
 "No employee could reach OIL facilities on Thursday," a source said, adding things improved a bit on Friday but attendance was low.
 Protesters pulled out employees from IOC refineries in Guwahati and Digboi, forcing curtailment of operations.
 Sources said if the agitation were to continue for another 7-10 days, the region may face fuel supply issues as in the absence of fresh replenishment the current stocks will exhaust and supply dry up.
 Bongaigaon, the third refinery in Assam, was already under maintenance shutdown when the agitation broke out.
 Two people were killed and 11 injured in police firing on protestors who have taken to streets since the Parliament approved the Citizenship Amendment Bill that would convert thousands of illegal immigrants into legal residents.
 Sources said OIL suspended LPG as IOC was not able to lift the cooking fuel due to protests. OIL has also stopped all drilling operations as the staff was not able to reach work.
 OIL supplies crude mainly to IOC's Digboi refinery and BPCL's Numaligarh unit.
 The firm has also stopped production from several gas wells, curtailing supplies to tea gardens and power and fertilizer plants. However, operations at Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) fields have been largely unaffected even though employees could not reach plants at some places, they said. ANZ ABM

Assam, NE to face fuel supply problems if citizenship agitation continues

<ul><li>The Indian Parliament on Wednesday passed a Bill that removed <keyword id="54776" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Leprosy">leprosy</keyword> as a ground for divorce in five personal laws. </li><li>Hindus in <keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> can no longer seek divorce if partner has leprosy. </li><li>Leprosy patients were not considered a part of the society as the disease was not curable. </li></ul>The Indian Parliament just removed an archaic law that allowed Hindus in the country to divorce their partners if they had leprosy. On Wednesday, the upper house <a href="https://prsindia.org/billtrack/personal-laws-amendment-bill-2018">passed a bill</a> that will remove the disease -- now declared curable -- as a legitimate ground for divorce, according to the five personal laws under the Hindu Marriage Act. The bill was passed on the last day of the Budget session without instigating any debate following general agreement on the issue. The Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill seeking removal of leprosy as a ground for divorce was introduced in 2018 in the lower house of Parliament. But the first push to remove this outdated provision was mooted over a decade ago. Earlier, Leprosy patients were not considered a part of the society as the disease was not curable. Leprosy patients were isolated and segregated from society as the leprosy was not curable and the society was hostile to them The suggestion of excluding leprosy as a ground for divorces in India was first put forward by The National Human Rights Commission in 2008. The Commission said that it is a curable disease now and it is not viable to have the diseases as a basis for divorce. Following this, India signed a United Nation General Assembly’s Resolution in 2010 to eliminate any discrimination against people affected by leprosy. In 2014, the Supreme Court also instructed the centre and state governments to rehabilitate those <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/parliament-passes-law-removing-leprosy-as-ground-for-divorce/articleshow/67974143.cms">affected </a>by leprosy. While the World Health Organisation declared successful eradication of leprosy worldwide, India is still witnessing high incidences of the diseases. As of 2017, <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/eliminated-in-2005-india-still-has-more-than-half-of-worlds-leprosy-patients/articleshow/56940677.cms">India had </a>nearly 57% of the world’s leprosy patient. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-citizenship-bill-assam-protests-rise-conrad-sangma-and-aribam-syam-sharma-join/articleshow/67830987.cms">India’s Citizenship Bill is faced with growing protests</a>

Hindus in India could seek divorce if partner had leprosy— not anymore

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chicago-police-guard-the-building-which-houses-immigration-news-photo/144536152">Getty Images/Scott Olson</a>Activists protesting outside the <keyword id="50403" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Immigration">immigration</keyword> building in Chicago.</div>The recent bipartisan Senate proposal to reform the nation's immigration system isn't the first time a large comprehensive <keyword id="124780" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="immigration-reform">immigration reform</keyword> package has been proposed in recent memory. The U.S. has had three major immigration packages over the past 30 years.
Although it's impossible to be completely accurate on estimates of the illegal-immigrant population, <a href="http://immigration.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000844" target="_blank">studies show</a> a current population around 11 million. In 1980, this figure was estimated to be around 3 million.
Here's a brief history of the most recent laws passed regarding immigration and how they fared:
<h3>The Immigration and Control Act of 1986</h3>
<a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d099:SN01200:@@@L&amp;summ2=m&amp;%7CTOM:/bss/d099query.html" target="_blank">This law</a>, signed by President Ronald Reagan, is very similar to proposals being floated by both President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of Senators. Items included: 
<ul>
<li>Requiring employers to attest to their employees' immigration status.</li>
<li>Making it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit unauthorized immigrants.</li>
<li>Legalizing certain seasonal agricultural illegal immigrants.</li>
<li>Illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982, and had resided there continuously were granted citizenship as long as they paid a fine, back taxes, and admitted guilt.</li>
</ul>
Here's what happened, according to the <a href="http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/PolicyBrief_No3_Aug05.pdf" target="_blank">Migration Policy Institute</a>:
First, about 3 million immigrants living in the U.S. at the time were subsequently granted citizenship.
Enforcement was beefed up with a 50 percent increase in Border Patrol. This led to a <a href="http://www.american.edu/spa/publicpurpose/upload/2011-Public-Purpose-Amnesty-Effect.pdf" target="_blank">roughly 23 percent spike</a> in border arrests in the two years following the law. However, the employer provisions requiring citizenship proof from employees gave loose accommodations, requiring them to accept any document that "reasonably appears on its face to be genuine." This led to a thriving false document industry, and government enforcement of employers was rather lax.
<h3>The Immigration Act of 1990</h3>
The focus of <a href="http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=84ff95c4f635f010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&amp;vgnextchannel=b328194d3e88d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD" target="_blank">this act</a>, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, helped strengthen legal avenues of immigration. Changes included:
<ul>
<li>Revision of all grounds for exclusion and deportation</li>
<li>Authorization of temporary protected status to aliens of designated countries</li>
<li>Revision and establishment of new non immigrant admission categories</li>
<li>Revision and extension of the Visa Waiver Pilot Program</li>
<li>Revision of naturalization authority and requirements.</li>
</ul>
<div>Here's what happened:</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The number of annual visas increased to 700,000 (previously 530,000) from 1992 to 1994, and dropped to 675,000 annually thereafter. A number of new visa categories were created, with an emphasis on granting citizenship to those with family already inside the U.S. and highly-skilled workers.</div>
<div>
<h3 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en">Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996</h3>
Signed by President Bill Clinton, this law offered some of the most sweeping changes to immigration law in since 1986. The largest focus was on beefing up border security, and the law also offered more stringent enforcement measures to counter the flow of illegal immigrants. Here are the big items:
<ul>
<li>Doubled the number of border patrol agents to <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2547227?uid=3739832&amp;uid=2&amp;uid=4&amp;uid=3739256&amp;sid=21101614289083" target="_blank">10,000 over five years</a> and required building a fourteen-mile long fence along the Mexican border.</li>
<li>Placed big penalties on people who help smuggle illegal immigrants or provide them with false documents.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/ending-laws-fuel-mass-detention-and-deportation" target="_blank">Radically expanded</a> the types of offenses that could result in an immigrant being detained or deported.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>Here's what happened:</div>
<div> </div>
<div>First, border enforcement was greatly enhanced and deportations were expedited. Under the new law, immigrants needed at least three employment authorization verifications, and non-citizens were restricted from getting public benefits.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Although not its purpose, the bill also had a serious effect on legal immigration as well with the elimination of a "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/sentencedhome/immigration.html" target="_blank">suspension of deportation</a>" practice. Immigrants wanting to avoid deportation and being barred from returning needed to be in the U.S. for at least one year and "of good moral character for five years."</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The long-held practice of judicial review was also eliminated, resulting in some non-citizens being deported for minor crimes they may have committed in the past — shoplifting, for instance — and being permanently barred from returning.</div>

You Searched For "citizenship bill protest" and got 10 results

India’s Citizenship Bill is faced with growing protests

BI India Bureau

Romila Thapar, Amitav Ghosh, Nandita Das join 600 writers and artists to seek withdrawal of Citizenship Bill

PTI

The world's largest democracy is heading toward modern-day fascism

Rosie Perper,Rosie Perper

The north-east of India is voting to decide whether 4 million undocumented people should continue living in India

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Why Indians are protesting 2 controversial laws that could leave millions of Muslims stateless

Claire Molloy,Havovi Cooper,M…

53 pro-democracy activists, including an American lawyer, arrested in Hong Kong in the city's biggest crackdown yet under China's severe security law

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After a torrid December, how will India’s Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the BJP fare in 2020?

SCMP

Assam, NE to face fuel supply problems if citizenship agitation continues

PTI

Hindus in India could seek divorce if partner had leprosy— not anymore

BI India Bureau

The US Has A Long And Messy History Of Illegal Immigration Reform

Paul Szoldra

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