Over 2 mln Nepalis get citizenship certificates

The government has completed citizenship distribution work through its mobile teams in 56 of the 75 districts in Nepal.

Over 2 million Nepalis get citizenship certificates as of Tuesday, the Home Ministry said.

Shambhu Ghimire, under secretary at the ministry told reporters here on Wednesday that the distribution work could not be completed by the stipulated date in some Terai districts due to ongoing protests.

Likewise, incessant snowfall in the upper Himalayan districts last month also affected the work.

The government had deputed 562 mobile teams to distribute citizenship certificates across the country from January 15.

Initially, the government had planned to complete the distribution work within two months. "The mobile teams will complete the work in their respective districts by mid-April," Ghimire said.

According to the ministry, a total of 2,178,360 Nepalis obtained citizenship certificates as of Tuesday.

The parliamentary committee of the House of Representatives of Nepal, on Nov. 24, 2006 approved a citizenship bill to facilitate the distribution of citizenship certificates to people living in the country.

The passed bill said that any person born before mid-April 1990 and living in the country since then, was eligible to acquire citizenship of Nepal.

Similarly, any person born of parents who are the citizens of Nepal would be a citizen of Nepal on the basis of descent. Any foreign woman married to a Nepali citizen could acquire the Nepali citizenship on the basis of naturalization.

Source: Xinhua