Citizenship
POLITY
Copyright © 2014-2020 TestBook Edu Solutions Pvt. Ltd.: All rights reserved
Download Testbook App
Citizenship
Categories of Person in a state
Citizens
They are the permanent citizens of the state.
They enjoys all the civil and Political rights avalible in that country.
Friendly Aliens
They belongs to foreign country.
They do not enjoys all rights that a citizen enjoys.
Enemy Aliens
According to Criminal Procedure code the defination of the the enemy alien is,
“Citizen of any state which is at war with India”.
They enjoys less rights then Friendly aliens.
They do not enjoys protection against arrest and detentition under article 22.
Illegal Immigrants
As per the Citizenship act, 1955 amended in 2003, the illegal immigrants are those
people who have entered the country without valid documents or those who came with
vaild documents but now staying beyond the permitted limit.
POLITY | Citizenship PAGE 2
Download Testbook App
Important Articles of the constitution
The part II of the constitution from Article 5 to 11 deals with the Citizenship.
Article 5: Citizenship at the commencement of the
constitution
Under this article citizenship is given to every person who has his domicile in the
territory of India and—
(a) Who was born in the territory of India; or
(b) Either of whose parents was born in the territory of India; or
(c) Who has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five
years.
Article 6: Citizenship of certain persons who have
migrated to India from Pakistan
A person who has migrated to the territory of India from the territory now included in
Pakistan shall be deemed to be a citizen of India at the commencement of this
Constitution if—
He or either of his parents or any of his grand-parents was born in India as defined
in the Government of India Act, 1935.
In the case a person has so migrated before the July 19th, 1948, he has been
ordinarily resident in the territory of India since the date of his migration.
In case a person has so migrated on or after the, July 19th 1948, he has been
registered as a citizen of India by an officer appointed in that behalf by the
Government of the Dominion of India on an application made by him therefor to such
officer before the commencement of this Constitution in the form and manner
prescribed by that Government.
POLITY | Citizenship PAGE 3
Download Testbook App
Provided that no person shall be so registered unless he has been resident in
the territory of India for at least six months immediately preceding the date of
his application
Article 7: Rights of citizenship of certain migrants to
Pakistan
A person who has after the March 1st, 1947, migrated from the territory of India to
the territory now included in Pakistan shall not be deemed to be a citizen of India
Article 8: Right of citizenship of certain persons of
Indian origin risiding outside India ( at the time of
commencement of constitution)
Any person who or either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents was
born in India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935, and who is ordinarily
residing in any country outside India as so defined shall be deemed to be a citizen
of India if he has been registered as a citizen of India by the diplomatic or consular
representative of India in the country where he is residing.
Article 9: Person voluntariry acquiring ctizenship of a
foreign state not to be citizens.
No person shall be a citizen of India by virtue of article 5, or be deemed to be a
citizen of India by virtue of article 6 or article 8, if he has voluntarily acquired the
citizenship of any foreign State.
POLITY | Citizenship PAGE 4
Download Testbook App
Article 10: continunance of the rights of citizenship
Every person who is or is deemed to be a citizen of India under any of the foregoing
provisions of this Part shall, subject to the provisions of any law that may be made
by Parliament, continue to be such citizen.
Article 11: Parliament to regulate the right of
citizenship by law
Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Part shall derogate from the power of
Parliament to make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination
of citizenship and all other matters relating to citizenship.
With respect to the powers given to the Parliament by the constitution,
Parliament has enacted the Citizenship act, 1955.
The Citizenship act, 1955 was amended by
4. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1957
5. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1960
6. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1985
7. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1986
8. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1992
9. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003
10. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005
11. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2015
12. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
POLITY | Citizenship PAGE 5
Download Testbook App
Citizenship Act, 1995
Ways of getting Citizenship
By Birth
Person born in India on or after 26th January 1950 but before 1st July 1987 are
citizen of India just by place of birth.
Person born in India on or after 1st July 1987 but before 3rd December 2004
and either of the Parents is citizen of India.
Person born in India on or after 3rd December 2004 and both of his/her parents
are Indian or one of them is Indian and other is not an Illegal immigrant.
By Descent
If a Person born outside India on or after 26th January 1950 but before 10th
December 1992 will be a citizen of India if Father of that person in a citizen of
India at the time of his birth.
If a Person born outside India on or after 10th December 1992, will be a citizen
of India if either of his/her Parents are citizen of India at the time of birth.
Note: Citizenship will not be given automatically, Parents has to declare that the
minor does not hold the passport of any other country and birth to be registered
within one year in the Indian consulate.
POLITY | Citizenship PAGE 6
Download Testbook App
By registration
If a person has any relation with an Indian like Person of Indian origin, Spouse,
children of a Indian citizen can get the citizenship of India by registration.
By Naturalization
This way is for those people who are purely foreigners. To get the Indian
citizenship foreigners should have knowledge any language of the 8th schedule.
At the time of making application person should have stayed in India for 12
months and he/she should have stayed in India for total of 11 years in last 14
years.
Note: If a person having any distinguished achievement then the government can
waive off any of the requirement.
By Acquisition of territory
If any foreign territory became part of India then Government of India specifies that
who among then shall be citizen of India.
Ways of losing Citizenship
Renunciation
If an Indian citizen of full age and capacity renounce his citizenship by writing a
declaration, when his declaration was registered he/she cease to be a citizen of
India. Registration can be withheld by the government during the war in which India
is engaged.
POLITY | Citizenship PAGE 7
Download Testbook App
Termination
If a Citizen of India acquired the citizenship of any other country then his/her
citizenship automatically terminates.
Termination can be withheld by the government during the war in which India is
engaged.
Deprivation
Deprivation is the Compulsory termination of Indian citizenship if:
Citizenship is obtained by fraud.
Citizen show disloyalty to the Constitution of India.
Citizen has, within 5 years after registration or naturalization, been imprisoned in
any country for 2 years.
Citizen has unlawfully communicated or traded with the enemy during war.
The citizen has been ordinarily resident out of India for 7 continuous years.
Single Citizenship
By adopting the concept from England, India has Single citizenship concept.
This term has two meaning;
First within country, Unlike USA which has two type of citizenship one is of
country and another is of States where as in India there is only one type of
citizenship and that is of Country.
Second outside country, unlike few nations that allow multiple Country
citizenship Indian Constitution has allowed single country citizenship. If a person
takes the citizenship of any other Nation then he automatically lost his/her Indian
Citizenship.
POLITY | Citizenship PAGE 8
Download Testbook App
Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)
Cardholder
OCI Card system is for those foreigners who were eligible for Indian citizenship
on 26th January 1950 or was an Indian citizen on or after that date.
Citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh are not eligible for OCI Card.
Voting rights are not provided to them and cannot acquire the agriculture land in
India.
OCI cardholders are not Indian citizens; card is issued to them so that it can
work as lifelong visa for visiting India.
Persons with OCI Cards have equal rights as NRIs in terms of financial,
educational and economic matters
Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) Card
To be eligible for the PIO card, a Person Should
Be a person of Indian origin and is a citizen of any country except Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China or Afghanistan. Or has held an Indian
passport at any other time or is the spouse of a citizen of India or a person of
Indian origin.
Through PIO card its holders can enter India multiple times entry for fifteen
years. They do not need a separate visa.
POLITY | Citizenship PAGE 9
