New Delhi, March 14 -- The Narendra Modi government notified implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) - weeks before the Lok Sabha elections. The contentious Act has faced numerous delays and continued criticism from the Opposition ranks. More than 100 people have lost their lives to protests and consequent police action since it was passed in December 2019.

The CAA rules aim to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants - including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians - who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before 2014. Applications have to be submitted online through a newly formed portal with citizenship hopefuls declaring the year in which they en...