Tag: CAA

By AMITA KANEKAR

India annexed Goa in 1961. The argument of the Nehru government of the time was that Goa was an integral part of India that had been colonised by Portugal and thus needed to be liberated. But now, with the enumeration for the National Population Register (NPR) already started, to be followed by the National Register of Citizens (NRC), or, in other words, with Goans now having to prove that they are Indian citizens, isn’t the government questioning its own declaration, that Goa is an integral part of India? Or – as is becoming clearer every day – is it only the land that’s integral? While the people are another matter, or rather, people don’t matter. The land of Goa is deemed unquestionably Indian – even worshipped as Bharatmata – but the people of Goa are not. They may be deemed foreigners, and might even get kicked off the ‘Indian’ land they have lived on for generations… (more…)

By ALBERTINA ALMEIDA

The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA), got onto India’s statute book on 12^th December, 2019, after it was passed in the Lok Sabha on 10^th December, 2019, in the Rajya Sabha on 11^th December, 2019,   and got the assent of the President on 12^th December, 2019,   and was promptly notified in the Government Gazette on the same day. This Act comes at a moment when there is widespread discontent on account of an economic slowdown. It comes at a time after the National Register of Citizens in Assam, a Supreme Court directed exercise, has resulted in 19 lakh people, most of them Hindu, being excluded from the register. (more…)