The recently introduced bill related to citizenship has moved ahead of the House of Representatives (HoR).
Minister for Home Affairs Bal Krishna Khand presented the Nepal Citizenship (First Amendment) Bill-2079 BS.
Minister Khand presented the new bill after the two-thirds majority of HoR disapproved the protest notice registered by major opposition party CPN (UML)’s Dr Bhim Bahadur Rawal, Sher Bahadur Tamang and Nepal Workers and Peasants Party’s Prem Suwal.
Dr Rawal viewed that introducing a new bill related to citizenship by scrapping the old one was humiliating to the parliamentary State Affairs Committee. According to him, the old bill was deliberated in the State Affairs Committee for nearly three years and a report on this was also submitted.
Another parliamentarian Tamang disapproved of the new bill, stating that the new bill was against the spirit of the provision of issuing citizenship identity cards to mothers and fathers with distinct gender identities.
Minister Khand responded to the protesting voices that the new bill was to constitutionally guarantee citizenship to those citizens without citizenship identity cards.
He clarified that the old bill related to it was scrapped after the effort to enable a favourable environment to formulate laws to take forward the old bill on consensus failed.
The Home Minister said, “There are thousands of people who are deprived of citizenship identity cards although their parents are citizens of Nepal. The lack of identity cards was further depriving them of education and other state facilities. I appeal with all to help create enabling environment to endorse the new bill and for headway to implement the law by formulating new laws.”
He expressed his confidence that the new bill would be taken forward in a more refined way after clause-wise deliberation on the same will be taken on the bill once the Bill moves ahead further. (RSS)
