After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent efforts to woo the Indian diaspora in the U.S. and Australia, the last day of the Winter Session on Tuesday saw the introduction of a Bill seeking to expand the ambit of overseas citizenship of the country.
Review of provisionsThe Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2014, introduced by Minister of State for Home Haribhai P Chaudhary, seeks to remove certain lacunae noticed during implementation of the 1955 Act and review of provisions relating to overseas citizens.
The Bill provides for registration of persons as ‘Overseas Indian cardholder.’
OCI cardholder
It proposes to include a person who is a great grandchild of any person who was a citizen of India at, or any time after the commencement of the Constitution; the minor child of a citizen of another country who was an Indian citizen at some point and the spouse of an Indian citizen or an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder.
The amendments in the Bill also provide for confirmation of rights of such cardholders, renunciation of OCI card and cancellation of registration of OCI cardholders.
