 bill no 117 of 1986 the citizenship (amendment) bill, 1986 a bill further to amend the citizenship act, 1955be it enacted by parliament in the thirty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:-1 (1) this act may be called the citizenship (amendment) act, short ] 900 tiue ana commence_ mcnt 5 (2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint 57 of 1955 amendment of section 3 2 in section 3 of the citizenship act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:-10 "(1) except as provided in sub-section (2), every person born in india,-(a) on or after the 26th day of january, 1950, but before the commencement of the citizenship (amendment) act, 1986; (b) on or after such commencement and either of whose parents is a citizen of india at the tune of his birth, 15 shall be a citizen of india by birth" 3 in section 5 of the principal act, in sub-section (1),-(i) in clause (4), for the words "six months", the words "five years" shall be substituted; amend_ ment of section 5  (ii) for clause (c), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-5 "(c) persons who are, or have been, married to citizens of india and are ordinarily resident in india and have been so resident for five years immediately before making an appllcation for registration;"; (iii) in the explanation, the words "or any of his grand~ 10 parents," shall be omitted  4 in the third schedule to the principal act,-amendment of third schedule (i) in clause (d), for the words "seven years" and "four years" the words "twelve years·' and "nine years" shall, respectively, be substituted; 15 (ii) in the proviso, in clause (ii) , for the words "eight years" the words "thirteen years" shall be substituted  statement of objects and reasonsa lal'ge number of persons of indian origin have entered the territory of india from bangladesh, sri lanka and some african countries and they an! residing in india, government has taken a serious view of the entry of persons clandestinely irito india anc! with a view to making the provisions of the citizenship act relating to the grant of indian citizenship more stringent it is proposed inter alia to make the following changes in the citizenship act, 1955, namely:-(i) under the ~xisting provisions, ever,y person bprn in indta on or after the 26th day of january, 1950, shall be a citizen of india by birth with a view to preventing automatic acquisition of citizenship of india by birth, it is proposed to amend the act to provide that every person born in india after the commencement of the amending act will become a citizen of india by birth only if at the time of his birth either of his parents is a citizen of india; (ii) under the act, certain categories of persons may apply for citizenship by registration one such category is those persons of indian origin who are ordinarily resident in india and have been so resident for six months immediately before making an application for registration another category is women who are, or have been, married to citizens of india these provisions are proposed to be made more stringent by providing that a person would be eligible for citizenship by registration only if he is ordinarily'reshent in india and have been so resident for five years immediately before making an application for registration it is also proposed to change the word "women" by "persons" in the latter category so that the eligibility of citizenship through marriage to citizens of india now admissible to women only is extended to men also (iii) under the act, a person who is not a citizen of a commonwealth country referred to in the first schedule to the act may apply for the grant of a certificate of naturalization if he has resided in india for the period 6f at least five years it is proposed to increase this period to ten years 2 the bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid objects new delm; buta singh the 16th octob~r, 1986 '  (57 of 1955) - • •- citiz~n­ship by birth 3 (1) except as provided in sub-section (2) of this section, every person born in india on or after the 26th january, 1950, shall be a citizen of india by birth - - - - - citizenship by registration 5 (1) subject to the provisions of this section and such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed, the prescribed authority may, on application made in this behalf, register as a citizen of india any person who is not already such citizen by virtue of the constitution or by virtue of any of the other provisions of this act and belongs to any of the following categories:-(a) persons of indian origin who are ordinarily resident in india and have been so reeident for six months immediately before making an application for registration; - - - - - (c) women who are, or have been, married to citizens of india; e - - - - provided that in prescribing the conditions and restrictions subject to which persons of any such country may be registered as citizens of india under this clause, the central government shall have due regard to the conditions subject to which citizens of india may, by law or practice of that country, become citizens of that country by registration explanation-for the purposes of this sub-section, a person shall be deemed to be of indian origin if he, or either of h!s parents, or any of his grand-parents, was born in undivided india  - - e e -  the third schedule [see section 6 (1)] qualifications for na~isationthe qualifications for naturalisation of a person who is not a citizen or a country specmea m tne it irst schedule are:-, - - - - (d) that during the seven years immediately preceding the said period of twelve months, he has either resided in india or been in the service of a government in india, or partly the one and partly the other, for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than four years;     - provided that the central government may, if in the special circum-,;tances of any particular case it thinks fit,--     (ii) allow periods of residence or service earlier than eight years before the date of the application to be reckoned in computing the aggregate mentioned in clause (d) ·above a bill further to amend the citizenship act, 1955 (shri buta singh, minister of home atjairs) 