According the available sources as many as 40 thousand Goans have believed to have registered their births in Portugal and have dual citizenship, although is a controversial issue and is still under the consideration by the centre. The figure includes the politicians, police personnel, bureaucrats and common man. As per the news published by the TNN the union ministry of law and justice has suggested the ministry of home affairs (MHA) to amend the country’s citizenship act and grant the one time AMNESTY to those Goans who have registered their births in Portugal.
The MHA, is currently maintaining “status quo” on the issue “till the Centre takes a final decision”, and is expected to meet again to deliberate on the modalities of the one-time amnesty. As per the information provided by the sources “Any Amendment to the existing law need to be passed by the parliament and there is no specified time frame that has been fixed on such matter as of now”. The Government statistics peg around 40,000 Goans as having registered their births in Portugal a provision offered by the state’s former colonial rulers to those born before Goa’s liberation in 1961 and to their children but holding neither a Portuguese passport nor a ‘bilhete de identidade’ (ID card).
The ministry is taking into the consideration only the registration of the birth at Portugal issues and the Portuguese passport holders are not included into this as they automatically loose the Indian nationality. High level inter-ministerial meeting took place in the New Delhi on 5th June 2015 in presence of additional secretary & ministry of law and justice to suggest that “one-time amnesty may be granted to these Goans to retain Indian citizenship as per the law, but this will have to be provided (for) in the Citizenship Act/rules through an amendment; only then can it (amnesty) be done”.
G K Dwivedi, joint secretary (foreigners), MHA, emphasized that the issue must be resolved within the ambit of Indian Acts and laws. “To resolve this issue, we should not rely upon the Act or guidelines issued by the Portuguese government to the extent that they are inconsistent with our rules and regulations,” he said. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of MHA addl. Secretary (Foreigners) B. K. Prasad, who visited Goa with the team of officials to assess the ground realities and actual problem faced by the Goans who have registered their birth in Portugal and they have a fear that they may lose their Indian citizenship.
A report was subsequently submitted recommending that those who have only registered their births in Portugal will not be considered Portuguese nationals, while those who hold Portuguese passports will not be considered Indian citizens. Goa has a raging dual citizenship issue, those 40 thousand Goans who have registered their births in Portugal have also go on to get a Portuguese passport or the ID card, which is considered as tickets to working in Europe, in fact many are already making use of these privilege.
Sources said that during the meeting in New Delhi it was also decided to invite suggestions for an amicable solution to the dual citizenship issue on the basis of Section 9(1), 9(2) of the Citizenship Act 1955 and schedule III of the citizenship rules.
News Source: TNN
