Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources. Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
2. Citizenship law amendment goes against non-discriminatory norms in the Constitution. Critically analyse.(250 Words)
Why this question:
Home Minister Amit Shah moved Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 in the Lok Sabha recently amid stiff resistance from the opposition parties that called it unconstitutional as it excludes Muslims from three neighboring countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh – where Islam is the state religion from taking advantage of relaxed rules for obtaining Indian citizenship.
Key demand of the question:
One has to present a critical analysis of Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 and debate upon its constitutionality.
Directive:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Briefly discuss the coming of Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019.
Body:
Explain first the basic features of the bill.
Then move onto present the following aspects –
- The Citizenship Amendment Bill explicitly seeks religious discrimination into law, against our secular constitutional ethos.
- The Bill, will be the first time that religion or ethnicity will be made the basis of citizenship that would do damage to the very idea of India as an inclusive and diverse polity, where religion has no bearing on who can become a full member of society.
Discuss what needs to be done to overcome the challenges posed by the law to the secular fabric and the constitution; the law of the land.
Conclusion:
Conclude with need to refine the laws and ensure the constitutional validity of the same.
