Citizenship

Introduction:
A citizenship of a state is a person who enjoys full civil and political
rights. Citizenship carries certain advantages conferred by the
Constitution. Part 2 of the Constitution describes classes of person who
would be deemed to be the citizenship of India at the commencement of
Indian Constitution, 26th January, 1950, and leaves the entire law of the
citizenship to be regulated by the law made by parliament. In exercise of
its power the parliament has enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955.
This Act provides for the acquisition and termination of citizenship
subsequent to the commencement of the Constitution.
The nature of provision from Article 5 to 9 show that the objective of the
constituent assembly was not to make a permanent law for citizenship.
Ours is a Republic Country and various offices are to be occupied by the
persons who are elected by the citizens. So, keeping this in view, it was
necessary for the Constituent Assembly to make some provisions which
could precisely determine that who is a Citizen of Independent Indian
Dominion and who is not, at the time of the commencement of the
Constitution.

Meaning of Citizenship
The population of state is divided into two classes- Citizenship and
aliens. A citizenship of a State is a person who enjoys full civil and
political rights. Citizenship are different from aliens who do not enjoy
all these rights. Citizenship carries with it certain advantages conferred
by the Constitution. Aliens do not enjoy these advantages. The following
fundamental rights are available only to citizenship:
1. The right not be discriminated against any citizenship on grounds
of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15).
 2. The right to equality of opportunity in the matter of public
employment (Article 16).
3. The right to six freedoms enumerated in Article 19 i.e. freedom of
speech and expression; assembly; association; movement;
residence; profession.
4. Cultural and educational rights conferred by Article 29 and 30.
5. There are certain offices under the Constitution which can be
occupied by citizens only e.g. office of the president (Article 58(1)
(a)); Vice president (Article 66(3)(a)); Judges of the Supreme
Court (Article 124(3)) or of High Court (Article 217(2)); etc.
6. The right to vote for election to the House of the People and the
Legislative Assembly of States is available to the citizens only and
only they can become members of the Union and the State
Legislatures.

Constitutional Orientation
Part II of the Constitution of India contains provisions for demarcating
the status of citizens in India during commencement of
Constitution. Article 5-11 covers the concept of Citizenship in the
Constitution of India. Part II was enforced from the signing date of the
Constitution, that is 26th of November 1949. The Parliament of India
holds the control over the matter of Citizenship as it is a subject of the
Union List enshrined in the 7th schedule.

Article 5 (Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution)

 Persons who were domiciled and born in India were granted citizenship.
 Citizenship was conferred to:
 People domiciled in India but not born in India, but either of their
parents were born in India.
 Any person who has ordinarily resided in India for 5 years immediately
before the commencement of the Constitution.
 Article 6 (Citizenship of certain persons migrated from Pakistan)
 The article conferred the status of citizen to people who migrated to
India from Pakistan.
 Whoever migrated to India before 19 July 1949 was considered a citizen
of India if one of his parents or grandparents were born in India (both
the conditions must be satisfied).
 People who migrated to India from Pakistan after the above-mentioned
date were required to go through the process of registration.

Article 7 (Citizenship of certain persons migrated to Pakistan)

 It states that those who migrated from India to Pakistan after 1 March
1947 but subsequently returned to India will be considered as citizens if
they came with resettlement permit.

Article 8 (Person of Indian origin residing outside India)

 The article states, that any Person of Indian Origin residing outside India
who, or either of whose parents/grandparents, was born in India could
register him/herself as an Indian citizen with Indian Diplomatic
Mission.

Article 9
 It affirms the concept the single citizenship in India by barring the
citizenship of person who is voluntarily acquiring citizenship of any
other nation.

Article 10
 It affirms that any person who has received Indian citizenship under any
of the provisions of this Part shall continue to be citizens and will also
be subject to any law made by the Parliament.

Article 11
 The Article confers the authority in the hands of Parliament of India
to make laws regarding acquisition or termination of citizenship.
Indian Citizenship Act, 1955
The Citizenship Act, 1955 that came into force with effect from 30th
December 1955 deals with matters relating to the acquisition,
determination and termination of Indian citizenship. It provides for the
acquisition of Indian citizenship by birth, by descent, by registration and
by naturalization. The act has been amended by the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act 986, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1992, the
Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2003, and the Citizenship (Amendment)
Act, 2005.
The Original Act provides as follows:
 A person born in India after 26 January 1950 would, subject to
certain exceptions be a citizen of India by Birth
 Anyone born outside India after 26 January 1950, subject to certain
requirements, would be a citizen of India if his/ her father was an
Indian citizen at the time of his/her birth
 Under certain conditions, certain category of person could acquire
Indian citizenship by registration in prescribed manner
 Foreigners could acquire Indian citizenship on application for
naturalization on certain conditions
 If any territory became part of India, the Government of India
could by order specify the persons who would become citizens of
India as a result thereof
 Citizenship could be lost by termination, renunciation or
deprivation on certain grounds
 A citizen of commonwealth country would have the status of
commonwealth citizen of India. Government could make suitable
provision on the basis of reciprocity.
 Conclusion

 Citizenship is a matter of the Union List dealt with by the Parliament of

India and has constitutional status under Part II of the constitution.
 By utilizing the power conferred under Article 11, the Parliament of
India enforced the Citizenship Act, of 1955 which has been amended
 several times to keep the pace of granting citizenship persistent with the
evolution in the field and requirements of the time.
 The concept of Vasudhav Kutumbakam enlightens the path of accepting
an application to award Indian citizenship to an applicant who has
applied through legal modus.