Purna Prasad Mishra/RSS
KATHMANDU: All members except Rahul Kumar Saha of Jeetpur, Bara district have citizenship card. Rahul is 25 years old but has not got the Nepali citizenship yet. He applied with all the supporting documents to the district administration office for the citizenship but has not been able to acquire one.
His father has the citizenship by birth, mother has hers based on naturalization and the rest of the family members based on descent. Rahul says he feels that the State has been treating him differently by denying him the citizenship whereas all the other offspring in the family have got citizenship by descent.
He has lost both his hands due to electrocution. He got a 33 thousand volts electric shock while on the job. “I feel that the State machinery is discriminating against me due to my disability. Otherwise, why should the State deny me citizenship when I have submitted all the required papers for the same?”
All other members of the family have their names in the electoral roll as they have the citizenship card with them.
However, Rahul’s name is not included in the electoral roll as well since he doesn’t hold the citizenship. So, he is denied of exercising the right to participate in the election and vote.
When he approached some people’s representatives for assistance in getting a citizenship for him, they asked him whether he has ever voted.
“I am the only one in the family without the citizenship. I feel I am a living dead due to this. Many youths like me who are denied citizenship have been very dejected and started saying that suicide is the only alternative. The authorities concerned have not paid attention to addressing this problem (of not getting the citizenship) which has become a headache for many,” said Rahul in frustration.
It was shared in a discussions programme with journalists here today that around one million people like Rahul are denied of their citizenship right as the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2063 BS has not been amended in consonance with the Constitution although seven years have passed since the promulgation of the constitution. The programme was organized by the Forum for Women, Law and Development.
Forum’s executive director Sabin Shrestha said that youths who have passed the entrance examination for admission to important subjects like medical education, engineering etc. have been missing the opportunity for higher studies for lack of citizenship.
Although the Constitution has the provision of providing the citizenship to all the bona fide Nepalis, many youths are facing a host of difficulties as they are denied citizenship for lack of related laws.
The article 304 of the Constitution states that all the laws in the force at the time of commencement of this Constitution shall remain in operation until repealed or amended. Provided that laws inconsistent with this Constitution shall, to the extent of inconsistency, ipso facto, cease to operate, one year after the first session of the federal legislature, in accordance with the Constitution.
But the lack of the implementation of the Constitutional provision has forced many Nepali citizens to have a stateless status. The bill to amend the Citizenship Act had remained in pending at the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee for long and there was no progress in regard with the bill that was presented by the Committee to the House of the Representatives after a voting. Bearing in mind the stagnant position of the document, the government had decided to withdraw it on last Friday and registered another bill same day.
According to advocate Shrestha, the previous bill had incorporated the provision of ensuring citizenship to gender minorities under the category of ‘other’ but this has been omitted in the new one. The Committee’s recommendations in regard with the citizenship bill were relatively progressive. But again, one million people as Rahul will find a room to demand citizenship if the existing bill gets endorsement.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Home Affairs, 90,726 people like the father of Rahul have obtained the citizenship by birth while 500 thousands possessing the citizenship on the same ground have failed to pass on the citizenship to their offspring. The 2011 Census shows that around one million children are living separately from their parents while the number of children living with a single parent (mother) is 896 thousands. It is said 1.1 million citizens will be eligible for obtaining citizenship if the existing citizenship bill gets endorsed.
One Dechen Lama said the country’s Citizenship Act has failed to treat men and women equally. It is a matter of shame that Nepal is in the list of 46 countries in the world where women face discriminations in case of passing the citizenship to their spouses and children.
