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By THE AL-ZULAIJ COLLECTIVE
It is heartening to note that the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and the National Population Register (NPR) – (CAA complex) – have taken root in Goa. It is critical that Goans be part of a movement opposing the furthering of a Hindu state. (more…)
By DALE LUIS MENEZES
The passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) has exposed the Indian state’s trust deficit with its people. As it stands today, one needs to prove that at least one parent is a legal citizen. Being born in your country is no longer enough to belong in India! For Goans, this amendment may be in direct contradiction to the Goa, Daman, and Diu (Citizenship) Order, 1962, which granted them Indian citizenship. (more…)
By ALBERTINA ALMEIDA
The December 2019 amendment of the Citizenship Act, 1955, once again brings the issue of citizenship of Goans (with Portuguese passports) to the fore. The new amendment provides for citizenship to be granted to persecuted minorities (read in the Act as Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Parsi and Christian) from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, who have been residing in India from before 31st December, 2014, and it also allows the Government to cancel the registration of the Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder ‘in case of violation of any provisions of the Act or any other law for the time’. Already much has been said of the Act, about the Government’s selective ‘humanism’ by which only certain persecuted communities, and that too from certain nearby countries which the ruling dispensation refers to as theocratic states, are being considered for citizenship. (more…)
By JASON KEITH FERNANDES
I read with interest the recent opinion piece “The Portuguese nationality bug” on the vexed issue of the rights of Portuguese Indians to Portuguese citizenship and was disappointed by the author’s refusal to see the larger picture. I suspect that this is because the author seeks to resolve the question within the narrow frames of Indian nationalism. As a result, the argument forwarded in the op-ed seems to buttress the rights of the state over those of citizens. Such legality will only strengthen the growing authoritarianism of the Indian state over subjects who, while formally citizens, increasingly lack the space to realize this condition.
By ALBERTINA ALMEIDA
Gratitude is a way of affirming what we are thankful for. It can also be about putting the spotlight on what we need to take forward, about foregrounding repeat-worthy actions. Given that the end of the year is often a juncture when we take stock of the previous year, what did 2015 offer?