Parliament on Monday passed a bill to grant dual citizenship to persons of Indian origin.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2003, will "enable both Bharatvasis and Bharatvanshis to contribute together to the cause of India's development", Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani said while replying to a short debate on the legislation, which was earlier adopted by the Upper House.

Among other things, the bill to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, simplifies the procedure to facilitate the reacquisition of Indian citizenship by persons who are children of Indian citizens and former Indian citizens, according to its Statement of Objects and Reasons.

The bill provides for grant of overseas citizenship of India to PIOs belonging to 16 countries and Indian citizens who choose to acquire citizenship of any of these countries at a later date.

It also makes acquisition of Indian citizenship and naturalisation more stringent and prevents illegal migrants from becoming eligible for Indian citizenship.

Advani said the passage of the bill would also fulfil the government's promise to the PIOs made at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in January this year and would be announced at the next celebrations on January 9-10.

P R Dasmunsi (Congress), P H Pandian (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (Rashtriya Janata Dal) supported the bill and said the government should say how it would make the intellectual and financial capabilities of the PIOs contribute towards India's development.