Date : 17 Jan, 2019     Time : 1530-1700 hrs

On 8 January, the Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016, five days after the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that was formed to assess it, proposed the Bill as it was. On 9 January, the Bill was listed for business in the Rajya Sabha, but was not discussed. It will now be listed during the upcoming budget session. The Bill, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to immigrants belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Parsi and Buddhist communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, has drawn criticism from political and civil society groups in the Northeast. These groups opine that the proposed law will open the floodgates to Hindu Bengali immigration from Bangladesh. This discussion will unpack the legislation, government intent, impact on politics and administration in the Northeast, and future repercussions by analysing it from three key perspectives: sociopolitical, administrative and legal.

PROGRAMME 

3:30-3:35 pm | Opening Remarks
Angshuman Choudhury | Senior Researcher, IPCS

3:35-3:45 pm
Ajit Lal | Retired IPS officer and former Chairman, Joint Intelligence Committee, Government of India

3:45-3:55 pm
Subimal Bhattacharjee | Former Country Head, General Dynamics, & working in rural Barak Valley through ‘Jookto’

3:55-4:05 pm
Nitin Gokhale | Senior journalist and defence expert

4:05-4:15 pm
D P Singh | Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India

4:15-5:00 pm | Q&A