1,414 citizenship certificates granted in 2021: MHA report
New Delhi, November 7: A total of 1,414 citizenship certificates were granted by authorities including the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2021, according to the annual report released on Monday.
According to the MHA annual report 2021-22, from 1 April 2021 to 31 December 2021, 1,120 citizenship certificates were granted by registration under section 5 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and 294 were granted by naturalisation under section 6.
Central Government delegated its powers to grant Indian citizenship by registration or naturalization in respect of foreigners belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christain or Parsi communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, to Collectors of 13 more districts and Home Secretaries of two more States.
With this, Collectors of 29 districts and Home Secretaries of 9 States have been authorized to grant citizenship in respect of the aforesaid category of migrants. The delegation will speed up the process of granting Indian citizenship to the aforesaid category of migrants as the decision would be taken at the local level, reads the report.
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The report further reads that an online module has been activated under the "Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) platform on August 22, 2021, to process the applications for renunciation of Indian citizenship.
"Through this module, an Indian citizen of full age and capacity may apply online for renunciation of Indian citizenship. End-to-end processing of applications for renunciation of Indian citizenship has been made online. This online processing aims to reduce compliance burden and to bring transparency in the processing of application for renunciation of Indian citizenship," read the report.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has been implementing a Plan Scheme "Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration and Tracking (IVFRT)".
The core objective of this project is to develop and implement a secure and integrated online delivery framework to facilitate legitimate travellers while strengthening security. The Scheme is being implemented in a planned and phased manner in consonance with the infrastructure/ connectivity readiness of locations supported by effective communication, training and institutional capacity.
The Project has global outreach since the scope of the project includes 194 Indian Missions abroad, 108 ICPs (Immigration Check Posts), 13 FRROs (Foreigners Regional Registration Offices) and 700 FROs (Foreigners Registration Offices) in the District Headquarters across the country. As on December 31, 2021, integrated online Visa application system has been implemented in 184 Indian Missions abroad, 13 FRROs, 700 FROs, and 108 Immigration Check Posts (ICPs).
Biometric enrolment software has been implemented in 184 Indian Missions abroad to capture the biometric details of visa applicants.
A total number of 108 Border crossing points have been declared as authorized Immigration Check Posts (ICPs). During the year 2021, one Airport ICP namely Khushi Nagar (UP) was established.
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- ANI
