Citizenship [Polity for UPSC]

 

INTRODUCTION

-> Citizen of a given state is a person who enjoys full membership of the political community or the State. He/she enjoy all civil and political rights in that state

-> Alien or mere resident is person who is a citizen of some other political community or State (Friendly and Enemy aliens)

-> Enemy aliens do not enjoy protection against arrest and detention (Article 22)

Rights Conferred to Citizens only

-> Some Fundamental Rights belong to citizen alone( Artice 15, Artice 16, Artice 18(2), Artice 19, Artice 29, Artice 30)

-> Only citizens are eligible for certain offices(Eg- President, Vice-President, Judge of SC & HC, Governor, Attorney General, Advocate General)

-> Only citizens hold the right to vote in elections (lok sabha & state leg.)

-> Only citizens have the right to become a MP & MLA

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CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS

(a) Four Categories of Persons Became Citizens of India at Commencement of Constitution(i.e. 26 Jan, 1950) [Article 5, 6, 7, 8]

1. Article 5 

-> Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution

A person who had his domicile in India and fulfilled any one of 3 conditions-

-> he was born in India

-> parents was born in India

-> resident in the territory of India for not less than five years

2. Article 6

-> Rights of certain persons who have migrated to India from Pakistan

-> If he or either of his parents or any of his grandparents were born in undivided India as defined under GOI, 1935

Also, he should fulfill any one of the following 2 conditions-

-> If he migrated before 19th July, 1948 - citizen

-> If he migrated after 19th July, 1948 , he has to apply for citizenship but also he has to reside in territory of India for atleast 6 months immediately preceding the date of his application

3. Article 7

-> Rights of a person who migrated to Pakistan from India after March 1, 1947, but later retured to India

-> For this, he had to be resident in India for six months preceding the date of his application for registration

4. Article 8

-> Rights of citizenship of certain persons of Indian origin residing outside India

-> This provision covers the overseas Indians who may want to acquire Indian citizenship

Two conditions should be fulfilled

-> He or either of his parents or any of his grandparents were born in undivided India

-> He has been registered as a citizen of India by the diplomatic or consular representative of India

(b) Other Constitutional Provisions w.r.t Citizenship

1. Article 9

-> Persons voluntarily acquiring citizenship of a foreign state not to be citizens

2. Article 10

-> Every person who is or is deemed to be a citizen of India shall continue to be such citizen, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament.

3. Article 11

->Parliament shall have the power to make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination of citizenship and all other matters relating to citizenship

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ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP ( Citizenship Act, 1955)

1. Citizenship by Birth

-> Born in between 26th January 1950 -1st July 1987 - citizenship irrespective of the nationality 

-> Born on or after 1st July 1987 - either of his parents should be the citizen of India

-> Born on or after 3rd December 2004 - either both parents should to Indian or one parent should be Indian and other one should not be an illegal migrant

2. Citizenship by Descent

->From 3rd December 2004 onwards outside India

Not to be a citizen of India by descent-

-> Unless his birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year of the date of birth

-> Or with the permission of the Central Government, after the expiry of the said period

3. Citizenship by Registration

Who can aplly?

-> Indian Origin Person(resident for 7 years)

-> A person married to a Indian citizen

-> Minor children of a Person who are citizen of India

-> Person whose parents are registered as citizen of India

-> Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder

4. Citizenship by Naturalization

-> A person can acquire citizenship by naturalisation if he/she is ordinarily resident of India for 12 years (throughout 12 months preceding the date of application and 11 years in the aggregate)

-> The Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 reduced the mandatory 11 years requirement to 5 years

-> The Central Government may grant a certificate of naturalisation to any person if he fulfils all qualifications in the third schedule of the Citizenship Act

5. Citizenship by Incorporation of Territory

-> If any foreign territory becomes a part of India, the GOI specifies the persons who among the people of the territory shall be the citizens of India

-> For example, Pondicherry( Citizenship (Pondicherry) Order, 1962)

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LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP

1. By Renunciation

2. By Termination

3. By Deprivation

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SINGLE CITIZENSHIP 

-> India follows a single and uniform citizenship for the whole of India

-> The citizens in India owe allegiance only to the Union

-> There is no separate state citizenship

-> Indian constitution provides for Common all-India citizenship

-> The civic and political rights are equally conferred on all the citizens of India

-> It helps in increasing the feeling of nationality and encourages patriotism

Few Exception(In case of Indian Single Citizenship)

-> Under article 16, the Parliament can prescribe residence within a state or union territory as a condition for certain employments or appointments

-> Under article 15, the Constitution prohibits discrimination against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and not on the ground of residence

-> Under Article 19, the freedom of movement and residence is subjected to the protection of interests of any schedule tribe

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NRI, PIO, OCI

-> Non Resident Indian (NRI) - An Indian citizen who is ordinarily residing outside India(182 days or more) and holds an Indian passport

-> Person of Indian origin (PIO) - A Person who or whose any ancestors was an Indian national and who is presently holding another country’s citizenship

-> Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) - A person registered as overseas citizen of India cardholder under the citizenship act of 1955

-> The GOI via Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2015 merged the PIO category with OCI category in 2015

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ASSAM ISSUE & ASSAM ACCORD

Issue:

-> Assam experienced large-scale illegal migration from East Pakistan(1970's) which led to a six-year-long Assam movement for the deportation of illegal migrants by All Assam Students' Union (AASU)

-> The movement calling for the NRC to be updatedand deportation of all illegal migrants who entered Assam after 1951, which led to the historic Assam Accord in the year of 1985(15 August)

Assam Accord:

-> The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 by the Centre and the Assam government with the All-Assam Student Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad

-> It set March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date for the deportation of illegal migrants from the northeast of India

Clause 6 of the Accord:

-> It says that constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

-> Ministry of Home Affairs appointed committee on implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord has proposed a definition for ‘Assamese people’ in its report. This 14-member committee headed by the High Court judge Biplab Kumar Sarma that was set up in 2019 following widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.

Report of the Committee:

-> Definition of Assamese

-> Reservation for Assamese in Parliament, state assembly, local bodies

-> Reservation in Legislative Councils

-> Regulation of Outsiders (Inner Line Permit (ILP))

-> Other Rights

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CITIZENSHIP(AMENDMENT)ACT,2019

-> It was notified on Dec 12, 2019 and came into force from Jan 10, 2020

-> It provides citizenship on the basis of religion to 6 undocumented non-Muslim communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh

-> The 6 undocumented non-Muslim communities include Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who entered India on or before 31st December, 2014

-> The Act provides that the central government may cancel the registration of OCIs on certain grounds