• To grant Indian Citizenship to persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have migrated to India after facing persecution on grounds of religion in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh

Highlights of CAA

• At present, it is mandatory for a person to stay here for at least 11 years to get citizenship of India.
• The bill will reduce this period to six years. It will enable people from these communities to get Indian citizenship in six years.
• It will make some amendments to the Citizenship Act 1955 to provide legal aid for citizenship.
• The provisions of the amendments to the Act would not apply to tribal area of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under ‘The Inner Line' notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.
• The CAA amend section 7D so as to empower the Central Government to cancel registration as Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder, after providing a reasonable opportunity of being heard, in case of violation of any provisions of the Citizenship Act or any other law for the time being in force.

The Citizenship Act, 1955

• Under The Citizenship Act, 1955, one of the requirements for citizenship by naturalisation is that the applicant must have resided in India during the last 12 months, as well as for 11 of the previous 14 years.
• The amendment relaxes the second requirement from 11 years to 6 years as a specific condition for applicants belonging to these six religions, and the aforementioned three countries.

Know! about illegal migrants

• Illegal migrants cannot get citizenship of India according to the Citizenship Act, 1955
• The people, who have entered India without valid travel documents like passports and visas or have come to India with valid documents but stay here longer than the period mentioned therein, are considered as illegal migrants under this law.
• Under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passports (Entry into India) Act, 1920 these illegal migrants can either be kept in jail or sent back to their country.
• In the laws of 1920 and 1946 the central government has made some to exempt Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsi and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan so that they can stay in India.
• Now after the amendments if people belonging to these communities live in India without valid documents, then they can neither be imprisoned nor deported.
• This exemption has given to those religious groups who have reached India on or before 31 December 2014.

Nagaland extends Inner Line Permit to Dimapur

• The Nagaland government extended the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system to Dimapur, the commercial hub of the State.
• The decision makes it mandatory for "every non-indigenous person" who entered the district after November 21, 1979, to obtain an ILP within 90 days.
• The notification said non-indigenous persons living in Dimapur prior to November 21, 1979, would have to produce documents as evidence to get a certificate from the Deputy Commissioner for exemption from the permit system.

Exempt from CAB

• Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, protected by the ILP requirement, have been exempted from the provisions of the CAB along with the whole of Meghalaya, Mizoram and the tribal areas of Tripura and Assam as covered in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
• Recently Manipur has also been brought under the purview of ILP System. Thus the entire north eastern India has been exempted from CAB except for Sikkim and non-tribal areas in Assam and Tripura
• This means that undocumented migrants from the six non-Muslim communities, who will become Indian citizens as per the proposed amendment, will not be able to take up jobs, open businesses or settle in these areas and will require a permit to enter these States.
• States under the ILP regime, it means that beneficiaries under CAB will become Indian citizens but will not be able to settle in these states

Know! about Inner Line Permit (ILP)

• An Inner Line Permit is a document that allows an Indian citizen to visit or stay in a state that is protected under the ILP system. The system is in force today in Four North eastern states - Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram ( Manipur added recently) - and no Indian citizen can visit any of these states unless he or she belongs to that state, nor can he or she overstay beyond the period specified in the ILP.
• Residents of other States have to mandatorily obtain an ILP to visit the protected States under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. The States also give long-term ILPs for work and stay.
• An ILP is issued by the state government concerned. It can be obtained after applying either online or physically. It states the dates of travel and also specifies the particular areas in the state which the ILP holder can travel to.

The Sixth Schedule

• The sixth schedule gives tribal communities considerable autonomy; the States of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Mizoram are autonomous regions under the Sixth Schedule.
• The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India allows for the formation of Autonomous District Councils to administer areas which have been given autonomy within their respective states

Protests in North East Regions

• There have been protests across the north eastern States against the CA Bill that nullifies the 1985 Assam Accord, which called for detection and deportation of anyone who entered the State after March 24, 1971.
• The Bill makes the Accord redundant as it is likely to benefit non-Muslims among the over 19 lakh people excluded from the National Register of Citizens.

National Affairs
Drones to be deployed to destroy hidden marijuana plantations
Relevance IN - Prelims (about NCB and step taken by the government to curb marijuana plantation)
What's the NEWS

• The Centre has decided to deploy drones to destroy marijuana plantations before the crop is harvested and finds its way into the hands of the drug cartels
• Last year alone saw 414 tons of plant being seized in more than 24,000 cases. That figure is likely to go up this year once the NCB data is collated

Know! more about it

• A decision has been taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs with states and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on board to investigate illegal operations suspected to be carried out by the farmers in some states, along with other crops to conceal the prohibited activities.
• The Centre will use satellites to detect marijuana crops by penetrating the lighter foliage and drones will subsequently destroy the plants.
• Drones could be deployed to carry out spraying of chemicals to destroy the crops.
• There are reports of large-scale smuggling of marijuana from Tuticorin to Maldives and Central agencies are working with state law enforcement authorities to detect the source.
• Legal cultivation of limited crop of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes is licensed under Section 10 of the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and mainly used in alternative medicine such homeopathy and ayurveda. On the other hand, illegal cultivation is an offence under Section 20 of the NDPS Act.
• In the proposed move, the NCB, Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) along with state authorities have tasked to collecting field intelligence, destruction of illegal cultivation and arrest offenders. Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) will procure satellite surveys of illicit cultivation and will share the images with NCB, CBN and state agencies.
• Since farmers are taking up cultivating marijuana to make large profits quickly, the government is also encouraging alternative mechanisms to wean them away by training them to grow other crops.

Government Schemes
PM Modi chairs first meeting of Ganga council, reviews Namami Gange project
Relevance IN - Prelims (about Namami ganga project and National Ganga Council) + Mains (GS II government policies and interventions for the development in various sectors)
What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the first meeting of the National Ganga Council and said that rejuvenation of the river should be a shining example of cooperative federalism.

Know! more about the meet

• Modi also reviewed the progress of works under the ambitious Namami Gange project in the stretch of the river that is considered the most polluted, and deliberated on various aspects of cleaning the river with focus on ‘swachhta', ‘aviralta' and ‘nirmalta'.
• The meeting observed that the Ganga is the holiest river in the sub-continent and its rejuvenation should embody a shining example of cooperative federalism.
• A lot has been accomplished as a comprehensive initiative integrating various governmental efforts and activities to abate pollution, and conserve and rejuvenate the river.
• The government had made a commitment of providing Rs 20,000 crore for the period 2015-20 to the five states through which the Ganga passes, to ensure adequate and uninterrupted flow.
• An improvement in the framework for Nirmal Ganga would require the fullest cooperation from the public at large and generating greater awareness through dissemination of best practices from cities situated on river banks.

Know! about National Ganga Council

• The National Ganga Council holds overall responsibility to direct, develop and control River Ganga and the entire River Ganga Basin. It also includes protection, prevention and abatement of environmental pollution in River Ganga.

Jurisdiction of the Council

• The jurisdiction of the council is extended to states Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi and Haryana.

Composition

• The PM is the chair person of the council. The Union Minister of Water Resources, river development and Ganga Rejuvenation are the ex-officio vice-chairperson of the council.
• The other members include ministers of finance, urban development, environment, tourism, drinking water and sanitation, shipping, vice chairman of NITI Aayog and CMs of the states to which the jurisdiction extends.
• The government has set up the Clean Ganga Fund (CGF) to facilitate contributions from people, NRIs and corporate entities for funding Ganga rejuvenation projects.
  
  

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