Kathmandu, 31 May: A few hours before Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal’s departure to India for a four-day-visit, President Ramchandra Paudel sealed the controversial citizenship amendment bill which was denied sealing by previous President Bidya Devi Bhandari.
According to the President’s Office, the President sealed the citizenship amendment bill on Wednesday morning, the day, PM Dahal was reaching Delhi.
The then President Bidya Devi Bhandari had kept on hold the Bill, which was rectified by both Houses through a fast track by rejecting the previous bill finalized by the concerned committee by spending some years.
After President Paudel assumed office, the present coalition government had requested the President to seal the same old bill, which, according to the constitution, will automatically expire if kept on hold for certain days.
The old bill presented in the House had the provision for waiting some years to obtain Nepali citizenship for those who married Nepali nationals. The new bill has a provision for rewarding Nepali citizenship instantly to those who are married to Nepali citizens.
As there is a practice for cross-border marriage among the Nepali and Indian nationals in the Tarai districts, mostly, Indian nationals married to Nepali nationals will be benefited from the new provision.
However, Nepali nationals married to Indians will have to wait for some years to get Indian citizenship.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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