South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019 for even those whose either parent was an ‘illegal migrant’. This and other strict exclusionary provisions such as the requirement for registration of minors to include copies of valid foreign passport, copy of valid residential permit, and proof that each parent was an Indian citizen, create statelessness as a by-product.40 The lack of safeguards against statelessness at birth is in contravention of UN Child Rights Convention, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on Migrant Workers, which assert the right of a child to be registered immediately after birth and the right to acquire a nationality, under which India has not filed any reservations. Recently, relaxations have been made in the citizenship regime, removing the 2003 proviso and other conditions. In 2015, the BJP government decreed to allow non-Muslim minority communities (specifically, Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian) from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to stay on in India even without proper documentation on ‘humanitarian considerations’.41 The following year, the process of granting citizenship to those fleeing persecution in neighbouring countries was decentralised to the districts.42 And, in December 2019, Indian Parliament passed an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, making it easier for persecuted non-Muslim minorities from the aforementioned countries to become Indian citizens. The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 i) makes Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian illegal migrants from these countries eligible for Indian citizenship, and ii) relaxes the residence requirement for naturalisation for the said groups from 11 years to six years. No condition or tests to prove persecution have been outlined in the statute. 40 Asha Bangar, ‘Statelessness in India,’ Institution on Statelessness and Inclusion, June 2017, https://files.institutesi.org/WP2017_02.pdf. 41 ‘Government to Allow Pakistani Hindus to Buy Property, Open Bank Accounts.’ Economic Times, April 17, 2016, https://economictimes.indiatimes. com/news/politics-and-nation/government-to-allow-pakistani-hindus-to-buyproperty-open-bank-accounts/articleshow/51863383.cms. 42 1595 Pakistanis were granted Indian citizenship in the three years since (till 2018). Since 2018, when religion-wise data began to be made public, 295 Hindus and Sikhs from Afghanistan and Pakistan were granted Indian citizenship (as of February 13, 2019). See: ‘Sikh and Hindu Refugees from Afghanistan and Pakistan.’ Ministry of Home Affairs, Press Information Bureau, February 13, 2019, https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1564254 . 54