New Delhi, March 11: Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai on Tuesday introduced the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha, aiming to modernise and consolidate India’s immigration laws and replacing four different laws with a holistic one.
While presenting the Bill, Rai said the government is looking to add a provision related to compounding of crimes and ensure better compliance involving different agencies that deal with immigration, passports and registration of foreigners. Dispelling doubts of some members from the Congress and Trinamool Congress, he said, “The government is not introducing the Bill to prevent anyone from entering the country.”
The Bill requires universities, medical colleges and nursing homes to inform the government about admission of foreigners and provides for fines in case of non-compliance.
Insisting that entry of foreigners is a prerogative of the government as it is related to security of the country, Rai said, “India is a fast-developing country, and the government is committed to promote tourist arrival but security of the country is also a priority.”
The Bill seeks to grant the Centre powers to provide for the requirement of passports or other travel documents in respect of persons entering and exiting from India. Rai said the Narendra Modi government is removing clauses of archaic laws that are not needed and the clauses that are still relevant have been retained in the new holistic proposed law.
He said the Bill looks to replace the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920; Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939; the Foreigners Act, 1946 and Immigration Act, 2000. “Two of these laws were enacted at the time of World War I and II,” he said, pointing to the need to abolish archaic laws.
On Congress member Manish Tewari raising the question of “legislative competence” for drafting such a Bill, Rai said the subject lies within the legislative competence of the government as it is listed under the Union List in Schedule 7.
Earlier, Tewari opposed the Bill and said it should either be withdrawn or referred to a parliamentary committee as its provisions violate multiple constitutional rights and international agreements.
He said the provision mandating hospitals to share details of patients and their attendants to the government appeared to be against principles of medical ethics. Saugata Roy of Trinamool Congress described the Bill as “superfluous” and said the provision requiring universities and medical colleges to inform the government before admitting foreigners would “restrict the flow of talent into the country in the fields of academics and medical science”.
Roy said while the Bill speaks of the government’s intention to decrease the number of laws, the introduction of fines for non-compliance was undesirable. He said an increased bureaucratic interference will make stay of foreigners difficult.
IANS