On March 11th, the Central government notified the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024 This means that the government has formally enabled the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, that was passed by the Parliament in 2019. The legislation facilitates citizenship to undocumented people belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Christian and Jain communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan It applies to people from these communities who came to India on or before December 31, 2014 This comes just days before the announcement of the dates of the general elections The application process Applicants will have to provide six types of documents and specify “date of entry” in India. The list of permissible documents include birth certificate, tenancy records, identity papers, any licence, school or educational certificate issued by a government authority in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The applicants will have to produce an eligibility certificate issued by a locally reputed community institution confirming that he/she belongs to “Hindu/ Sikh/ Buddhist/ Jain/ Parsi/ Christian community” The users will have to register on the portal https://indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in/ All documents along with photographs are to be uploaded online and the applications will be processed after a background check by security agencies. To prove that the applicant seeking citizenship entered India before December 31, 2014, they will have to provide another set of documents such as copy of passport, visa, slip issued by Census enumerators, PAN card, electricity bill, insurance policy. Most parts of the northeast are exempted from the CAA.