India drops Citizen Amendment Bill

India’s government has dropped a controversial amendment to its citizenship bill following violent protests.

The bill was aimed at helping Hindus and other minorities move to India from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries.

Supporters of the bill defended it by saying Muslims were excluded as the bill offers Indian nationality only to religious minorities fleeing persecution in neighbouring countries.

However, mass protests affected parts of the north east of the country, especially in the state of Assam which recently saw four million residents left off a citizens' register because they could not prove they came to the state before Bangladesh became independent in 1971.