In what is being hailed as a great leap forward, Nepal's major political parties have agreed to replace the 'and' conjunction with 'or' in a clause about citizenship certificates in the new constitution. It might look simple but has huge implications for Nepali women struggling for years to ensure that their children can get citizenship certificates through their mothers' names.
The Citizenship Act–2006 and the Interim Constitution–2007 stipulate that the child of a Nepali mother or a father can acquire Nepali citizenship certificate by descent. But women rights activists were up in arms after the first Constituent Assembly (CA) drafted that both parents must be Nepali citizens for their children to get citizenship certificates. After years of intense protests, political leaders have agreed to include the 'Or' conjunction, which will allow the children of a Nepali mother to get citizenship certificates. They need not have Nepali fathers.
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