A Bill to amend Citizenship Act was introduced in parliament today to grant citizenship to minority communities of Indian origin from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh even if they do not provide required documents. They include Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who entered into India without any valid travel document or validity of their document have expired. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. <br/><br/>He said, many such persons have applied for citizenship but are unable to provide proof of their Indian origin.<br/>The Bill proposes to amend the existing legislation to make applicants belonging to these communities eligible for citizenship by naturalization in seven years instead of present 12 years. The proposed amendment also empowers the central government to cancel registration as overseas citizen of India if they violate Citizenship Act or any other law. <br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports, there are thousands of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis who have entered India after facing religious persecution in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan without any valid document. They have been facing difficulty in getting Long Term Visa or Citizenship and the existing law does not allow anyone granting Indian nationality. If they can not show proof of documents on country of birth they have to stay at least 12 years in India.