Begusarai: Security personnel maintaining queues of voters at a polling station during Bihar assembly elections in Begusarai on Monday. PTI Photo (PTI10_12_2015_000062B) *** Local Caption ***
India has accorded citizenship to 14,864 persons who were living in the enclaves on the Bangladesh side, as part of a recent landmark land boundary agreement signed by Narendra Modi government with the neighbouring country.
The process of swapping enclaves on both the sides were going on for last few months in Cooch Behar, West Bengal, which was being monitored by ministry of home affairs.
Most of the people living on the Bangladeshi side, mostly Hindus, had expressed their desired to live in India on the grounds that they have economic interests here and they have faced persecution in Bangladesh for decades. The grant of citizenship by the home ministry to the 14, 864 people brought to an end their nightmare of being stateless citizens without access to civic services, education, health-care and other facilities provided by the two governments to their respective nationals. Details