Lok Sabha Question No. 63 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-11
Subject: Pending Grant of Indian Citizenship
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: M. CHANDRAKASI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 63

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 11 TH  DECEMBER, 2018/AGRAHAYANA 20, 1940 (SAKA) PENDING GRANT OF INDIAN CITIZENSHIP

63. SHRI M. CHANDRAKASI:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  all  categories  of  applications  pending  with  the  Ministry  for grant of Indian citizenship as on date, State/UT-wise;
- (b) the number of persons who have been granted Indian citizenship during the last three years;
- (c) the average time taken by the Ministry for disposing of an application from NRIs/OCI card-holders seeking Indian citizenship; and
- (d)  the  steps being taken to facilitate quick disposal of applications seeking Indian citizenship?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

- a)  The  state  wise  details  of  applications,  pending  with  this  Ministry  (as  per online data) are enclosed as Annexure-I.
- b) The number of persons who have been granted Indian Citizenship during last 3 years are as under (as per online data): -

|   Year |   Count |
|--------|---------|
|   2015 |     605 |
|   2016 |    1106 |
|   2017 |     816 |

c)  Time  taken to  dispose of the Citizenship application filed by an applicant including OCI card-holders depends upon a number of factors such as the time taken  by  the District  Authorities to prepare their  report and  forward it to the

## LS.US.Q.NO.63 FOR 11.12.2018

concerned  State  Govt.,  the  time  taken  by  the  State  Govt.  to  send  its recommendations to the Central Govt. and the time taken by Central Security agency  for  field  enquiry.  In  this  regard,  it  is  to  state  that  Rule  12  of  the Citizenship  Rules,  2009  provides  that  District  Collector  shall  forward  every citizenship  application  to  State  Govt.  within  a  period  of    60  days  and  State Govt. shall forward the application to Central Govt. within a period of  further 30  days  after  receiving  the  same  from  the  District  Collector.  Rule  12  (2), further states  that these applications may be forwarded after the expiry of the period so specified but not exceeding 90 days alongwith the reasons for delay. After receiving the completed application alongwith all necessary documents, this  Ministry  issues  an  Acceptance  Letter,  within  one  month  to  eligible applicants.

- d) Following steps have been taken to facilitate quick disposal of applications for Indian Citizenship :
1.  For  all  citizenship  applications  submitted  on  or  after  01.10.2018,  the complete  process  of  submission  of  the  applications,  their  processing  at  the District,  State  and  Central  Government  level,  has  been  made  completely online.
2. The State Government/District concerned are being sensitized through video conference for faster processing / disposal of the applications.

## LS.US.Q.NO.63 FOR 11.12.2018

3.  Delegation  of  power  of  Central  Government  to  grant  Citizenship  to  legal migrants belonging to six minority communities  namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and  Christians  from  Afghanistan,  Pakistan  and Bangladesh  to  District  Collectors  of  16  Districts  and  Home  Secretaries  of  7 States  has  been  extended  till  further  orders  to  facilitate  persons  of  these minority communities.

## Citizenship applications (State/UT wise) pending with MHA (as per online data)

| Sr. No.   | State Name             |   Total |
|-----------|------------------------|---------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh         |       7 |
| 2         | Bihar                  |       6 |
| 3         | Chandigarh             |       2 |
| 4         | Chattisgarh            |       8 |
| 5         | Dadra and Nagar Haveli |       1 |
| 6         | Daman and Diu          |       1 |
| 7         | Delhi                  |      45 |
| 8         | Goa                    |      21 |
| 9         | Gujarat                |     125 |
| 10        | Haryana                |     112 |
| 11        | Himachal Pradesh       |      13 |
| 12        | Jammu and Kashmir      |       7 |
| 13        | Jharkhand              |       2 |
| 14        | Karnataka              |      61 |
| 15        | Kerala                 |      34 |
| 16        | Madhya Pradesh         |      41 |
| 17        | Maharashtra            |     162 |
| 18        | Manipur                |       1 |
| 19        | Meghalaya              |       2 |
| 20        | Mizoram                |       1 |
| 21        | Orissa                 |       2 |
| 22        | Puducherry             |       2 |
| 23        | Punjab                 |       8 |
| 24        | Rajasthan              |      18 |
| 25        | Sikkim                 |       2 |
| 26        | Tamil Nadu             |      32 |
| 27        | Telangana              |      23 |
| 28        | Uttar Pradesh          |      86 |
| 29        | Uttarakhand            |      28 |
| 30        | West Bengal            |      52 |
|           | Total                  |     905 |