Citizenship laws in India

What is citizenship?

A citizen of a state is a person who enjoys full Civil and political rights who you do not possess such rights are called aliens. Citizens are the units of the political constituency to which they belong. They are the people composing the community and who have submitted themselves to the dominion of a government to promote their general welfare and to protect their individual as well as collective rights. Citizenship means that the citizens shall receive certain rights of protection, care, and facilities from State and be entitled to hold certain offices, be entitled and eligible for recruitment to public service and be subject to charge taxes, duty, etc. In our constitution, there is a provision for fundamental rights and most of these fundamental rights are meant for citizens only, aliens cannot enjoy them. Indian citizens exclusively enjoy the rights guaranteed to them by the constitution under article 15, 16, 19, 29, 30, 58 (1) , 67 (3) (a), 76 (1) ,124 ,157 ,165 and 217(2). A person who is not a citizen of India has no right to vote in the elections to the union of India or any of the state legislatures in India, nor can be a member thereof, he can also not be a candidate for being a President, vice president, governor and a judge for any Court and other officers as well.

The constitution of India lays down two types of provisions in connection with the citizenship of India-

(1) provisions that specify as to who are you may be deemed to be a citizen at the commencement of the Indian Constitution.
(2) the provisions that for rules in respect of acquisition and termination of the citizenship and all other matter concerning or relating to citizenship, the Parliament may make laws.

Thus, the constitution of India, as it stands, does not contain exhaustive law on the subject and the Indian citizenship Act 1965 was passed for the purpose.

Who are deemed to be citizens of India?

At the time of framing of the constitution, the first thing to be determined, after deciding about the territory of the country, is about the citizen, as to who shall be the citizens of the country for which the constitution is being prepared. With this aim in view, the first provision in our constitution was made by the persons who were deemed to be the citizens of India at the time of commencement of the constitution i.e. 26-1-1950. The following provisions have been laid down in the constitution in this connection and the persons falling In these categories were deemed as the citizens of India on 26-1-1950.

(1) Citizenship by domicile (Article 5 of the constitution)
(2) Citizenship of migrants from Pakistan (Article 6 of the constitution)
(3) Citizenship of persons who migrated to Pakistan (Article 7 of the constitution)
(4) Citizenship of persons abroad (Article 8 of the constitution)

Thus, articles 5 to 8 describe 4 classes of people who were deemed to be citizens of India at the time of commencement of the constitution. These four classes of persons have been as follows-

• Persons domiciled in India
• Persons who migrated from Pakistan
• Persons who migrated to Pakistan
• Persons living abroad i.e. in foreign countries other than Pakistan.

Who cannot be a citizen of India?

As per provisions laid down and articles 7 to 9 of the constitution the following two classes of person cannot be the citizen of India-

(1) as per article 7, the persons, who, after the 1st March 1947 have migrated from India to Pakistan.
(2) as per article 9, persons who have voluntarily acquired citizenship of a foreign state.

Indian Constitution

Article 10 of the constitution provides that every person who is or is deemed to be a citizen of India under any of the provisions contained in article 5 to 8 of the Constitution of India, shall subject to any law that may be made by the Parliament continue to be such a citizen.

Article 11 of the constitution provides that the Parliament may make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination of citizenship and all other matters relating to citizenship.

Save the wording of article 1suggest that the element has been invested with the powers to deal with the question of citizenship of India in the future after 26 January 1950. Parliament may, therefore, respect citizenship acquired by a person under any of the provisions contained in articles 5 to 8 of the constitution.
Article 5 to 8 of the constitution provides for citizenship on 26/1/1950 and does not make any provisions for acquiring citizenship for persons born after the commencement of the constitution for the children or for the persons who may wish to acquire Indian citizenship by domicile. Article 11 expressly leaves these matters for the parliament. The Parliament has passed the citizenship act 1955 to regulate the modes of acquisition of Indian citizenship and also with the regard to the termination of the citizenship even acquired under the constitution. Under the Indian citizenship act 1955, there are five distinct modes of acquiring Indian citizenship-

• By Birth – Every person born in India on or after 26 January 1950 but before the commencement of the act in 1987 is an Indian citizen irrespective of the nationality of his/her parents. Anyone born in India after the commencement of the action and before 3 December 2004 can acquire Indian citizenship even if either of his/her parents is a citizen of the country at the time of his/her birth. Every person born in India on or after 3.12.2004 is a citizen if both his/her parents are Indian nationals or at least one parent is a citizen and the other is not an illegal migrant.
• By descent- Anyone born outside the territory of India on or after the republic is a citizen of India if his/her father was an Indian citizen by virtue of his birth. Anyone born outside Indian territory on or after 10-12-1992, but before 3-12- 2004 if either of his/her parents was an Indian citizen by birth, is an Indian citizen. Anyone born outside India on or after 3-12-2004 has to acquire Indian citizenship, after declaring that he/she does not hold a passport of another country and his/her birth was registered within one year of his/her birth at the Indian consulate.
• By registration- A Citizenship can be acquired by registration keeping the following in mind- A person should be an Indian resident for at least 7 years before applying for registration. A person of Indian origin who is resides in any country outside undivided India. A person who is married to an Indian citizen before applying for registration. Minor children of Indian citizens.
• By naturalization – A person of full age and capacity can acquire Indian citizenship by naturalization if- He/she is not a citizen of a country where Indian citizens are prohibited from becoming citizens by naturalization. He has to renounce the citizenship of other nations. He is an Indian resident for 12years preceding the application or has been a government employee in India for 4years. He should be adequately versed with a language recognized by the Indian Constitution. After acquiring citizenship, he intends to reside in India or serve the Indian government, international organization, or under a society or company of Indian origin.
• By incorporation of territory – If a territory is incorporated in India, every person in connection with that territory shall become a citizen of India.

TERMINATION AND DEPRIVATION OF CITIZENSHIP UNDER THE CITIZENSHIP ACT 1955.

(1) Termination- a person ceases to be a citizen of India as soon as he acquires the citizenship of another country voluntarily.
(2) Renunciation- a person ceases to be a citizen of India if he voluntarily renounces Indian citizenship or is holding two different citizenships at the same time. Section 9 of the citizenship act 1955 lays down the provisions in this connection.
(3) Deprivation- a person is deprived of Indian citizenship by the order of the Indian government when it has been proved that the person had acquired the citizenship by fraud or he had been disloyal towards the Indian Constitution.