Dhaka, March 13 -- The US government and the United Nations have expressed concerns about a contentious religion-based citizenship law in India, with the UN calling the legislation "fundamentally discriminatory in nature."

Rights advocates have criticised the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)- which the Indian government moved to implement on Monday. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say it discriminates against Muslims, reports Reuters.

Just weeks before Indian elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been pushing to implement the law, which makes it easier to get Indian citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from three Muslim-majority South Asian nations: Afghan...