New Delhi, March 4 (IANS) Parliament on Wednesday passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill which seeks to merge the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes.
The bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday, was cleared by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
It seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 which regulates the acquisition and determination of citizenship and details registration of overseas citizens of India and their rights.
The bill provides additional grounds for registering for an OCI card.
It also says the government may shift a PIO card-holder, who enjoys fewer benefits, to be an OCI card-holder from a specified date.
Moving the bill for passage in the upper house, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said: "It was necessary to merge the two, as under PIO, citizenship was extended up to great-grandchildren but in OCI it was only till grand children. Now it has been extended to great grandchildren."
This replaces an ordinance that was issued in January merging the PIO and OCI schemes.
The ordinance was promulgated in order to give PIOs benefits like life-long visa and exemption from appearing before the local police station on every visit.
The US signed a security agreement with Australia and Britain last week to deal with the challeng
Arun Jaitley to meet PSU bank's chiefs on Wednesday
New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet the heads of public sector b
Retail inflation may rise to 7.30 percent in September due to abnormal rains and a rise in food p
FCI to ferry more rice for Tripura via Bangladesh
Agartala, March 7 (IANS) Another 10,000 tonnes of rice will be ferried to Tripura via Banglades
SCO Interior Ministers Meet: India demands strict action against terrorism in SCO meeting
Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai called for strong action against terrorism and drug traf
Firing in Oklahoma, US: Attacker targets hospital; 4 killed, himself killed
An incident of firing has come to light in the US state of Oklahoma on Wednesday. Four people hav
The 41st match of IPL 2024 was played on Thursday between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Chal
Why questions are being raised on Russia's corona vaccine Sputnik-V, why the world is not convinced
The coronavirus is the first worldwide vaccine to be released around 9 months after the global pa
Team India's picture was a super hit in the final match of Asia Cup 2023. In the title match, Roh
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has requested the Central Government to cancel air services
