Full Form of CAB

Full Form of CAB

CAB was one of the most controversial topics of 2020, which triggered violent protests, riots, and rallies across the entire nation, majorly in the north-east, West Bengal and New Delhi. But do you know what the full form of CAB is?

The full form of CAB is Citizenship Amendment Bill.

This tutorial will briefly learn about the meaning of CAB, its provisions and other detailed information about the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

Topics Covered

1. What is the Citizenship Amendment Bill?
2. CAB Excuses some AREAS OF NORTH-EAST, OCI CARDHOLDERS
3. CAB and Article 14
4. IS CAB against Muslims?
5. Difference between CAB and NRC
6. Frequently Asked Questions/ FAQs

What is CAB?

“CAB or Citizenship Amendment Bill was implemented for a definite reason for resting citizenship or undertaking the process of specialization to persecuted minorities in three specific countries, namely Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh”.

India witnessed a shrill array of protest from northeast to south because of CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill). CAB revised the Citizenship Act, 1955, by allowing Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities, namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, or Christians, from three neighboring countries, specifically Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. There is a specific cutoff date classified in this amendment, i.e., only those who have entered India before the 31st of December 2014 are meant to be the specific beneficiaries of this amendment. Contrary to popular perception, it does not include any religious criteria into the Citizenship Act's fundamentals. It uses this criterion specifically in the three countries that have been identified to identify who belongs to a persecuted minority community. 

The Indian Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 (CAB) on December 11, 2019, with 125 votes in support and 105 votes against. Later on December 12, 2019, the bill received official approval from President Ram Nath Kovind.

The overviews of CAB are as follows:

Citation	Act No. 47 of 2019
Enacted by	Lok Sabha
Passed on	December 10,2019
Signed By	President of India, Ram Nath Kovind
Effective from	January 10, 2020
Introduced By	Home Affairs Minister, Amit Shah
First Reading dated on	December 9, 2019
Second Reading dated on	December 10, 2019
Third Reading dated on	December 11, 2019

CAB Excuses some AREAS OF NORTH-EAST, OCI CARDHOLDERS

The Citizenship Amendment Bill or CAB excuses some areas in the North-East from its provision. This bill would not be applied to Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram and Tripura as the exemption of these tribal areas is enclosed in the Sixth Schedule of our Indian Constitution and is covered in the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. Therefore, the areas falling under Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, Meghalaya and parts of Assam and Tripura would remain out of the range of the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

The citizenship bill also makes reforms to terms associated with the OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) cardholders. As per the amended bill, an NRI or foreigner may register as an OCI if they or their ancestors had Indian citizenship or the foreigner's spouse is Indian.

CAB allows the OCI cardholders to avail of India's right to fly, work and study in the country. The amended bill approved by the Rajya Sabha revises the Act to support OCI registration cancellation if the person has disrupted any law published by the Indian government.

IS CAB against Muslims?

CAA is not about the exclusion of Muslims, nor does it support the exclusion of any community. This legislation's primary objective of the amendment is very straightforward, specific, and limited, i.e., the inclusion of those people who are lining in minorities in these three countries. As far as this act is concerned, there is no reference to Muslims' exclusion even from these three countries. This particular act identifies three groups and does not take away the right of any individual Muslim from any of these three countries from applying for citizenship, asylum or refuge under Indian laws. However, the media has exaggerated and has gone on and on about this particular legislation, whereas it has got nothing to do with exclusion in reality.

Difference between CAB and NRC

The difference between CAB and NRC are as follows:

CAB	NRC
CAB stands for Citizenship Amendment Bill	NRC stands for National Register of Citizens.
Citizenship Amendment Bill was implemented to provide citizenship of India to three religious minorities.	The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is not related to any religion.
CAB is inclined to help non-Muslim immigrants only.	NRC is intended for the expulsion of all unauthorized immigrants irrespective of their religions.
CAB is aimed to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants significantly from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.	NRC Assam was introduced for distinguishing 'illegal immigrants', migrated from Bangladesh.
This bill will provide Indian citizenship to the religious minorities who invaded India's borders before December 31, 2014.	NRC will only hold those people who can provide all the documentation to prove their own or their ancestors' citizenship before March 24, 1971.

CAB and Article 14

As per Article 14, “The state shall not deny to any person equality before the law and provides equal protection of the law within the territory of India”. Many people were against CAB as they perceive the bill   discriminating against Muslims and violating Article 14.

The objective of the Citizenship amendment bill is to deal with the minorities’ persecution in three neighboring countries. Hence, the classification of the bill under Article 14 is perfectly valid.

CAB Frequently Asked Questions/ FAQs

Question 1: Why is CAB limited to three neighboring countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan)? Why not the proposed bill include citizenship and shelter to Hindus and other religious persecuted peoples from other countries?

Answer: Indian has a great history with Pakistan and Bangladesh. The circumstances which partitioned India into two and later into three have developed a situation where these religious minorities have been waning ever since the partition. Therefore its India's moral duty is to protect them from discrimination. 

Question 2: Why is Assam protesting against CAB?

Answer: The implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 is expected to help those who were once excluded by the Assam NRC. Therefore, some groups in Assam think that CAB would invalidate the Assam Accord of 1985 and re-settle the departed refugees. According to the Assam Accord of 1985, the cut off for excluding illegal immigrants was set to March 24, 1971. Therefore, the Assamese protestors feel that the amended citizenship bill will nullify and accord and settle the Hindu migrants in their state, which is a threat to their existence. 

Question 3: Which religions are covered in the cab bill?

Answer: The citizenship amended bill includes the religious minorities belonging to six communities, which are as follows:

1. Hindu
2. Sikh
3. Christian
4. Jain
5. Buddhist 
6. Parsi