There is good news for thousands of Hindu migrants, the majority of whom are from Pakistan, who are living in Gujarat as the central government has extended select district collectors' authority to grant Indian citizenship to them. The Home Ministry had earlier authorised 16 collectors in seven states, including Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, and Kutch, to grant citizenship to minority migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, till December 22, 2018. Last month, the authorisation was extended beyond December 22, in a huge relief for many migrants awaiting grant of citizenship. "There are 3,000 migrants from Pakistan living in Ahmedabad, and 3,000 more in other places in Gujarat. Many of them have already applied for Indian citizenship, but more will become eligible to do so next year upon completion of seven years as a migrant. This is why we were demanding that the delegation of power to collectors be extended, and we are happy that it has been done," said Rajesh Maheshwari, Secretary of Sindh Minority Migrants Association. Eligible Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants were granted citizenship earlier too, but in a bid to speed up the process, the Centre in 2016 authorised collectors to grant citizenship to eligible migrants. In fact, Ahmedabad district topped in the country by granting citizenship to 320 minority migrants since the process was decentralised and simplified, Ahmedabad district collector Vikrant Pandey, had said at a programme to award citizenship certificates to 90 such migrants in June. Some of those migrants were living in India for over two decades.

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