Opinion: Enfranchising The Neglected In Nepal

Nepal's new Citizenship Act is highly beneficial to the hitherto neglected sections of its population. For want of it, the people of Nepal, who have had close links with India, suffered a lot in the past. More importantly, the Act would lead to an all-inclusive enfranchisement in Nepal. It would help Nepal emerge as a really modern State.

In a significant development the other day, Nepalese President Ram Chandra Paudel approved the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Observers say this reflects the determination of the current government of Prime Minister Pushp Kamal Dahal in Kathmandu to extend the citizenship of the country to the hitherto neglected sections of its population.

The provisions of the new Act to acquire Nepali citizenship are simple. Accordingly, now the foreign women, married to Nepali men, can get naturalized citizenship just after submitting a photocopy of their marriage certificates. No Nepali citizen can be deprived of the right to obtain citizenship. They can acquire naturalized citizenship and citizenship by descent. A minor, who does not have the address of their father or mother within Nepal, will be considered a citizen of Nepal as a descendant.

A person, who was born in Nepal from a Nepali mother and settled in Nepal and whose father has not been identified, can obtain the country's citizenship. All that would be needed in such cases is that the person and the related mother make a self-declaration. Also, non-resident Nepalis can obtain the country's citizenship.

The children of citizens, who acquired Nepalis citizenship on the basis of birth before September 20, 2015, i.e. before the promulgation of the present Constitution, can obtain Nepali citizenship on the basis of descent after they reach the age of 16.

The new provisions to acquire Nepalese citizenship would lead to enfranchising a vast number of people in the country. According to an estimate, about half a million children born from these citizens by birth will be eligible for citizenship by descent. The Bill will enable children of citizens by birth and single Nepali mothers to obtain Nepali citizenship by descent. Members of gender and sexual minority will get their citizenship with their identity.

The observers say the new Act would grant of citizenship to the hitherto neglected sections of the Nepalese population. This would be very beneficial to them. For want of it, the people of Nepal who have had close links with India, suffered a lot in the past. With the acquisition of Nepali citizenship, they are likely to find themselves better placed in the country.

More importantly, the new Citizenship Act would lead to an all-inclusive enfranchisement in Nepal. This would help Nepal emerge as a really modern State. A modern State is supposed to grant every individual citizenship in the country and reflect their wills and aspirations in its governance.

Nepal today claims to be moving towards establishing a modern State. It has been a signatory to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights since 1991. The UDHR explicitly commands, "Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality." But presently, the number of the people without citizenship in Nepal constitutes almost a quarter of its entire adult population.

Nepal still remains largely patriarchal. Citizenship is traditionally inherited from the father. In cases, where the father is either unknown, has moved away, or refuses to recognize his children, the children are Stateless. At the end of Nepal's 2006 Civil War, Nepal did have a new constitution, under which nationality laws were relaxed and women were able to pass citizenship on to their children. But these rights have existed mostly on paper only.

The observers say the Dahal government must now see to it that the new Citizenship Act is implemented hassle-free on the ground. It is likely to find this hard. It may have to face the opponents of the Act at home. The opponents are alleging that, in his authentication of the Citizenship Bill, President Paudel did not follow the set procedure. He signed the Bill simply after the Council of Ministers sent a letter urging him to do so. The opponents assert that the Bill ought to have come to the President from the country's Parliament.

The strength of the opponents may not be undermined. It may be recalled that President Paudel's predecessor Bidya Devi Bhandari put the Bill on hold in September last even though both Houses of the country's parliament had passed it and sent to her for authentication for the second time. Prior to becoming the President of Nepal, she had been affiliated to the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist).

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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