Citizenship

2nd December, 2021 Polity

Figure 2: No Copyright Infringement Intended

Context:

According to ministry of Home, More than six lakh Indians renounced citizenship in the past five years.

According to a Global Wealth Migration Review report, in 2019, India came second only to China when it came to high net worth individuals (HNIs) leaving the country. As many as 7,000 HNIs left India in 2019.

The population of a state is divided into two categories: citizens and non-citizens. A citizen of a state enjoys all civil and political rights. A non-citizen, on the other hand, doesn’t enjoy these rights.

Under the Indian constitution, certain fundamental rights are available only to the citizens, namely:

Right against discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15);
right to equality of opportunity in matter of public employment (Article 16);
freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession (Article 19);
cultural and educational rights (Article 29 and 30);
right to vote and become members of the union and state legislatures.

president (Article 58(1)(a), vice-president (Article 66(2)), judges of the Supreme Court (Article 124(3)) and high court (Article 217(2)), governor of a state (Article 157), attorney general (Article 76(1)) and advocate general (Article 165).

The Indian constitution doesn’t prescribe a permanent provision relating to citizenship in India.
It simply describes categories of persons who are deemed to be citizens of India on the day the Indian constitution was promulgated on January 26, 1950, and leaves citizenship to be regulated by law made by the parliament.
Article 11 of the constitution confers power on the parliament to make laws regarding citizenship.
The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 was enacted in exercise of this provision.

Citizenship by birth:Anyone born in India on or after January 1, 1950, would be deemed a citizen by birth. This limit was further amended to include those born between January 1, 1950 and July 1, 1987.
Citizenship by descent:A person born outside India shall be deemed to be a citizen of India if either of the person’s parents was a citizen of India at the time of his/her birth provided that the birth is registered within one year of its occurrence or commencement of the Act, whichever is later, at the Indian consulate.
Citizenship by registration:A person may be registered as a citizen of India, if the person is married to a citizen of India or has been a resident of India for five years immediately before making an application for registration.
Citizenship by naturalisation:A person is granted a certificate of naturalisation if the person is not an illegal migrant and has resided in India for 12 months before making an application to seek the certificate.
Citizenship by incorporation of territory:If any new territory becomes a part of India, the government of India shall specify the persons of the territory to be citizens of India.