The Act aims to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted migrants belonging to six communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday notified the rules for implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The Act aims to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted migrants belonging to six communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Now that the CAA rules have been implemented, the Modi government can start granting Indian nationality to migrants from these communities who had come to India till December 31, 2014.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently got the president's assent but there were protests in several parts of the country against it.

The law could not come into effect so far as rules have to be notified for its implementation.

Here is a timeline of the new law:

* The CAA, passed on December 11, 2019 by Parliament, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955.

* The CAA facilitates expedited pathways to Indian citizenship for migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, specifically those belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian communities.

* Eligibility extends to people, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, fleeing religious persecution in their countries of origin.

* The amendment also relaxed the residence requirement for the naturalisation of these migrants from eleven years to five.

* The Union Home Minister Amit Shah in 2019 said that the grant of citizenship would be from the date and year of entry into India and all the cases and legal proceedings against them would be closed, besides protecting their business and trade interests on an equal footing.

* President Ram Nath Kovind on December 13, 2019, gave his assent, officially constituting it as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

* Muslim community members held widespread protests in December 2019 across the country following the misunderstanding about the CAA.

* The protests started in Assam on December 4, 2019, after the bill was introduced in parliament. Protestors stated that the move would cause a loss of their "political rights, culture and land rights" and motivate further migration from Bangladesh.

* On December 15, 2019, major protests took place near Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi and protesters gathered at the Shaheen Bagh road and sat on a dharna blocking the traffic movement.