Constitution of India

Introduction 

• Citizen: A person belonging to a territory and having the power to exercise his rights over that territory is said to be a citizen.  
  • Citizens are bound by law and are considered full members of any state.  
• Citizenship: The concept of citizenship defines the relationship of an individual with their sovereign state.  
  • It includes two categories which are citizens and aliens.  
  • People who are not citizens of India are considered as aliens. 
  • Aliens are excluded from citizenship. 
• In the context of India, during the partition with Pakistan, people who accepted the nationality of India remained its citizens. And those stayed back in Pakistan became citizen of Pakistan. 

Principles of Citizenship 

• Jus Soli: It means the right of soil. It is derived from Latin. Through this principle, a person acquires the status of citizen by taking birth in that nation.  
• Jus Sanguinis: It means the right of blood. It entrusts the status of citizen irrespective of the place where the person is born. Through this principle one gets citizenship because his parents were born into that nation.  

The Constituent Assembly denied the concept of jus sanguinis considering it racial and against the values of India. Motilal Nehru Committee (1928) recommended the jus soli as more appropriate method aligning with ethics of the country.  

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.  

The Citizenship Act, 1955 

• Act No. 57 of 1955 
• Enacted on 30 December 1955 
• It aligns the law for acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship.  
• It is segregated into 19 Sections and 3 schedules.  

Acquistion 

• By Birth (Section 3) 
  • Citizenship is conferred to every person born in India on or after 26 January 1950 but before 1 July 1987. 
• By Descent (Section 4) 
  • Anyone who was born on or after 26 January 1950 will be considered as Indian citizen if his father is born in India.  
  • A person will receive citizenship if one of the parents are Indian citizens at the time of a child's birth outside the nation on or after December 10, 1992.  
• By Registration (Section 5) 
  • Anyone having Indian descent and lived in India for 7 years before applying for registration to be an Indian citizen.  
  • Anyone who has got married to an Indian citizen and lived for 7 years in India before applying for registration to be an Indian citizen. 
• By Naturalization (Section 6) 
  • Being an ordinary resident of India for 12 years and fulfilling requirements of 3rd Schedule of Citizenship Act. 
  • Relinquishes citizenship of other country to acquire Indian citizenship but must not be from nations that do not provide citizenship to Indian citizens through the mode of Naturalization. 
  • Must be a person bearing good character and is acquainted with at least one language mentioned in 8th Schedule of Constitution of India. 
• By Incorporation of Territory (Section 7) 
  • If the country adds an extra territory under its sovereignty, then the people of that nation will become citizens of India.  
  • India succeeded the territory of Goa and Daman & Diu from Portuguese hence, anyone who or one of whose parents/grandparents was born before the 20 December 1961, in the territories now comprised in the union territory of Goa, Daman, and Diu, shall be deemed to have become a citizen of India on that day under Goa, Daman, and Diu (Citizenship) Order, 1962.  

Revocation 

• Renunciation (Section 8) 
  • A person who renounces his Indian citizenship to acquire the citizenship of another nation will cease to remain an Indian citizen. 
  • When the father loses his citizenship, his minor children also lose the same.  
    • Nevertheless, that child who lost his citizenship by the abovementioned means can reclaim it within 1 year of attaining full age.  
• Termination (Section 9) 
  • The Indian government can terminate anyone Indian citizen’s citizenship if he voluntarily acquires citizenship of any other country.  
  • In the case of Bhagwati Prasad v. Rajeev Gandhi (1986), the power to answer an issue upon Section 9 was conferred to central government instead of high court.  
  • In the cases of Madhya Pradesh v. Peer Mohd. & Anr., (1963) and Hari Shankar v. Sonia Gandhi (2001), the same ratio decidendi was embraced by the court regarding Section 9 of the Act.  
• Deprivation (Section 10) 
  • The Indian government has power to deprive any person from his Indian citizenship if he, obtains the citizenship through registration, naturalization or through Article 5 Clause (c). 
    • The said article talks about citizenship at commencement for a domicile in India and who has ordinarily been a resident of India for not less than 5 years immediately preceding the commencement of the Constitution. 

Amendments 

• Citizenship Amendment Act, 1986:  
  • The amendment has embraced the concept of jus sanguinis. It stated that those who were born in India on or after January 26, 1950, but before July 1, 1987, shall be Indian citizen.  
  • Those born after July 1, 1987, and before December 4, 2003, can get citizenship if any of their parents are born in India if they are not born in India.   
• Citizenship Amendment Act, 2003:  
  • The law for citizenship became more tenacious as it added the ground that if a person born on or after December 4, 2004, wants to acquire citizenship, one of his parents must be an Indian citizen and the other must not be an illegal immigrant. 
  • This came to halt the illegal immigration from Bangladesh. 
• Citizenship Amendment Act, 2005:  
  • This established the concept of dual citizenship, but it is not applicable to the citizens coming from Pakistan or Bangladesh.  
    • Dual Citizenship here means citizenship of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI). 
  • Overseas Citizen of India (OCI): 
    • A citizen of India living or working in another country is known as OCI. 
    • The concept of Person with Indian Origin card was merged with OCI card in 2015.  
    • A Person of Indian Origin was referred to someone who holds a passport of another country but had Indian origin was obligated to carry OCI card.   
• Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019: 
  • The primary amendment by the act was addition of a proviso in Section 2 (1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955. 
  • The proviso states that the person falling under the following categories shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act: 
    • Any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31 December 2014, 
    • And who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder.  

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.