CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS AND AMENDMENTS RELATED TO CITIZENSHIP IN INDIA

The Union Government decided to defer the Census 2027 in Manipur in the wake of intense public protests and Meitei civil society demand to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) with 1951 as the base year.

Hello readers, the political developments over the past few months, such as, the row over SIR name deletions, deportation of “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants”, and the demand for NRC in Manipur, have a common underlying theme. They all pertain to the question of who is actually the citizen of India in one way or another. The idea of “citizenship” has been debated and deliberated upon by political thinkers since the classical era. However, to understand the basics of what lies beneath these recent controversies on who belongs to this land, we shall look at a brief overview of the constitutional provisions and amendments related to citizenship in modern India in this edition of the newsletter.

Classification of the Population within a State

The population of a state is divided into two classes, namely, citizens and aliens. At the most basic level, ‘citizens’ are the members of the political community to which they belong; conversely, the ‘aliens’ are the non-members. Certain rights, privileges and duties are conferred upon the citizens of India and they are also bestowed with the entirety of the political and social rights. Fundamental Rights under Article 15 (Prohibition on Discrimination), Article 16 (Equality of Opportunity), Article 19 (Fundamental Freedoms), Article 29 (Protection of Cultural and Educational Interests of Citizens), and Article 30 (Right of Minorities to Establish and Administer Educational Institutes) are exclusive to the Indian citizens only.

Constitutional Provisions regarding the Conference of Citizenship at the Date of Commencement

The Constitution of India did not lay down a comprehensive law to determine the status of citizenship in India. Rather, it simply laid down the provisions for the classes of people who would be deemed to be the Citizens of India at the date of the commencement of the Constitution and left the entire law of citizenship to be regulated by some future laws made by the Parliament. The Parliament enacted the Citizenship Act, 1955 and has repeatedly amended it over the years to make elaborate provisions on acquisition and termination of citizenship. Part II of the Indian Constitution, that is Article 5-11, covers the original provisions related to grant of citizenship at the time of the commencement.

1. Article 5 grants citizenship based on the domicile of the person or his parents.

2. Article 6 grants citizenship rights to people who migrated from Pakistan to India.

3. Article 7 covers citizenship rights for people who had originally migrated to Pakistan but had a change of mind and returned to India.

4. Article 8 deals with the grant of citizenship to the people who ordinarily lived in other countries and whose parents or grandparents were born in India.

5. Article 9 prohibits dual citizenship.

6. Article 10 safeguards the citizenship rights conferred by article 5 to 8. And,

7. Article 11 gives Parliament the power to make laws to regulate citizenship.

Citizenship Act and Subsequent Amendments

Various modes of acquiring citizenship are prescribed in the Citizenship Act, 1955, elaborated and altered by the various amendments into the Principal Act. To simplify this section, only the latest provisions have been mentioned.

First, citizenship by birth. Every person born in India, whose both parents are either citizens of India, or either one of the parents is citizen of India and the other is not an illegal immigrant shall be the citizen of India. This does not apply to the child if its parents are foreign diplomats or enemy aliens.

Second, citizenship by descent. If either of the parents of a child born outside India is an Indian citizen at the time of the child’s birth. The minor who has the citizenship of India by descent must renounce the citizenship of any other country within six months of attaining the age of majority.

Third, citizenship by registration. People of Indian origin who live ordinarily in India and have been residing for over 7 years, people married to an Indian citizen, and adults registered as Overseas Citizens of India for 5 years and residing in India for one year can apply to the competent authority for citizenship.

Fourth, citizenship by naturalization. A non-illegal immigrant foreigner can acquire Indian citizenship on the application for naturalization to the Indian Government.

Fifth, citizenship by incorporation of territory. If a new territory becomes a part of the Union of India, the Government of India shall specify the people of that territory to be the citizens of India.

Loss of Indian Citizenship

The Citizenship Act, 1955 lays down 3 ways for the loss of Indian citizenship, including both the citizenship conferred by the Part II of the Indian Constitution and the Acts made by the Parliament of India.

First, renunciation. It is a voluntary act where a person holding the citizenship of India (or another country) abjures it for one or many reasons.

Second, termination. It takes place by operation of law when an Indian citizen voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country. The person ceases to be an Indian citizen.

Third, deprivation. It is compulsory termination of the citizenship of India by a government order if it is found out that the person had acquired the citizenship of India by fraud or has shown disloyalty towards the Constitution of India.