Rajkot, Oct 14 — A total of 319 applicants from four districts of Gujarat’s Saurashtra-Kutch region will receive Indian citizenship certificates on Thursday, with Rajkot accounting for 259 of the beneficiaries.
Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi will preside over the certificate distribution programme at Pramukh Swami Auditorium in Rajkot on October 15.
The beneficiaries include 53 applicants from Morbi, one from Surendranagar and six from Kutch, according to a state government release.
The programme is part of the process of granting citizenship to eligible people who migrated to India from neighbouring countries and have lived here for years.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act provides a pathway to Indian citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, subject to the applicable legal requirements.
The latest distribution follows two earlier programmes in Gujarat. On August 18, 2024, citizenship certificates were presented to 188 applicants at a state-level event in Ahmedabad in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
On July 25, 2025, another 181 applicants from Rajkot, Morbi and Kutch received certificates at a programme in Rajkot.
The state government said the legislation provides legal recognition to eligible migrants who faced religious persecution in their countries of origin and enables them to rebuild their lives in India with greater security.
Indian citizenship can also allow beneficiaries to access rights and services related to education, healthcare, property ownership, ration cards, government welfare schemes and voting, subject to the relevant laws and eligibility criteria.
Tomorrow's programme will extend the citizenship process to another group of eligible applicants in the Saurashtra-Kutch region.