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.
