A Red Carpet for Refugees: India Reduces Citizenship Fees by 150 Times

India rolls out the red carpet for refugees from neighboring countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who seek citizenship.

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — The Government of India has announced new measures to grant more relief to minority nationals from neighboring countries who are seeking refuge in India on the grounds of fear of religious persecution.

A meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to address the difficulties being faced by Hindus, Sikhs and other religious minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had arrived with the intention of settling in India. 

The facilities include permission to open bank accounts, purchase property for self-occupation, take up self-employment, as well as obtain a driver's license, Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Aadhar (Unique identification number).  

The registration fee for citizenship has been reduced to INR 100 (US$ 1.5) from its existing INR 3000 to 15000 (US$ 46 to 230). 

All these measure are expected to ease the granting of citizenship to those refugees seeking to permanently stay in India. 

Senior Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "The Government of India has made the historic decision to provide these facilities to persecuted minorities living in India on a long-term visa. We must understand that they have come to India after suffering persecution in these countries."  

A number of Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals belonging to minority communities in those countries, such as Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Parsis and Buddhists, took shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution. There has been no exact numbers of such minority refugees from these countries but officials put the figure of around 200,000 Hindu and Sikh refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan living in India. 

The Government of India has taken a number of steps during the last two years to facilitate the stay of persons belonging to the minority communities of these countries. However, those belonging to minority communities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, are staying in India on Long Term Visas (LTV) and continue to face difficulties with regard to several aspects of daily life.