8.8 lakh Indians gave up citizenship in past 7 years: Centre in Lok Sabha

Around 8,81,254 Indians have given up their citizenship in the past seven years until September 30, the Centre said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Earlier, on December 1, Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai had said that 6,08,162 Indians renounced their citizenship in the past five years till September 20. Of this 1,11,287 Indians gave up their citizenship in 2021, he said.

On the other hand, around 10,645 foreigners including 7,782 from Pakistan and 795 from Afghanistan applied for Indian citizenship between 2016 and 2020.

Rai said 1,106 people were given Indian citizenship in 2016, 817 in 2017, 628 in 2018, 987 in 2019 and 639 in 2020.

Also read: More than 6 lakh Indians gave up their citizenship in past five years

Citing data available with the Union Home Ministry, Rai said around 1,33,83,718 Indian nationals are living in foreign countries now.

The Centre’s clarification comes at a time when the government is yet to take a decision on the National Register of Citizens (NRC), under which it plans to register all genuine Indian citizens.

The government under the Citizenship Amendment Act also plans to give citizenship to religious minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who crossed over to India before December 31, 2014.

The CAA had sparked widespread protests across the country and was called discriminatory for excluding Muslims from the abovementioned countries from applying for citizenship in India.

It has, however, sought an extension till January 2022 to chart and notify the rules under CAA.