Nepal’s big decision amid meeting with India, this law passed despite opposition from China

Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda is on a four-day visit to India from Thursday (June 1, 2023). Meanwhile, the controversial amendment to Nepal’s citizenship law has been given assent by the President, which may further anger China. This is Prachanda’s first foreign visit after becoming the Prime Minister of Nepal in December 2022.

Nepal’s President Ram Chandra Poudel has given his assent to the controversial amendment to the country’s citizenship law. The amendment provides immediate citizenship with political rights to foreign women married to a citizen of Nepal. This amendment makes Nepal’s citizenship law one of the most liberal in the world. At the same time, resentment can be seen in China due to this decision of Nepal. China has been warning that the law could give citizenship and property rights to families of Tibetan refugees.

Now foreign women will not have to wait 7 years for citizenship

In the year 2018, the bill was registered in the Secretariat of the Parliament in the then KP Sharma Oli government of Nepal and in 2020 it was introduced in the Parliament. However, it was also strongly opposed by the opposition parties. On July 14 last year, it was passed in Parliament amidst a deadlock. The Bill amended the Nepal Citizenship Act 2006. Due to the opposition of the opposition parties, it remained in a lot of discussions.

Why was the bill brought in the first place

Those born before the new constitution came into force in Nepal on September 20, 2015, had citizenship of Nepal, but their children were deprived of it due to lack of law in the constitution. According to the constitution, a federal law was needed to give them citizenship, but even after 7 years of the constitution coming into force, the federal law was not brought. Regarding bringing the amendment, the Nepali government said that there are thousands of people whose parents are citizens of Nepal, but still they are deprived of citizenship certificate. Due to its lack, those people are deprived of education and other facilities. The file of amendment in the law was sent to Nepal’s former President Vidya Devi Bhandari, but she refused to give consent to it.

Prachanda met PM Modi

After reaching India, PM Prachanda of Nepal met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both countries resolved to take bilateral relations to Himalayan heights and resolve all issues including the boundary issue. In a statement to the media after the meeting, PM Modi said that he and Prachanda have taken several important decisions to make the partnership between the two countries a super hit in the future.