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Provisions regarding Citizenship in Constitution of India (Articles 5 to 11)
Citizenship is relationship between an individual and the State. There are two types of persons in any State - Citizens and Aliens. Citizens of India are full members of teh Indian State and are loyal to it. They have all citizenship and political rights. The concept of citizenship takes away certain rights from non-citizens.
Listen to the address of His Excellency President Ramnath Kovind which is available on the YouTube channel President of India under Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed) in which the Ex-President of India is saying that India is for all its citizens.
There are two principles for giving citizenship:
- The principle of - ‘jus soli’ which gives citizenship based on the place of birth.
- The principle of ‘jus sanguinis’ which gives recognition to blood relationship.
In India ‘jus soli’ is accepted. The Constituent Assembly had rejected the principle of ‘jus sanguinis’ considering it to be racist and therefore aginst the princples of India
Before independence the British Citizenship Act, and the Foreign rights Act of 1914 were in force. These were repealed in 1948 in India. Indians were not given British Citizenship under the British Citizenship Act, but they were considered temporary British Subjects without citizenship. As a result of the Paritition of India in the year 1947 there was widespread exhange of population between India and Pakistan. People were free to chose the country whose citizenship they wanted after Independence. The Constituent Assembly provided for the citizenship of these immigrants for immdiate purposes under the Constitution.
Part II of the Constitution from Article 5 to 11 are related to citizenship, but there are no permanent provisions for citizenship. These Articles only identify those persons who became Indian Citizens before the Constitution came into force i.e. before 26th January, 1950 . In addition Article 11 empowers the Parliamnet to make laws with respect to Citizenship. Accordingly Parliament has enacted the Citizenship Act 1955 which has been amended from time to tinme.
The Articles in the Constituion about citizenship are as follows -
5. Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution– At the commencement of this Constitution 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 immediately preceding such commencement,
shall be a citizen of India.
6. Rights of citizenship of certain persons who have migrated to India from Pakistan– Notwithstanding anything in article 5, 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—
(a) 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 (as originally enacted); and
(b) (i) in the case where such person has so migrated before the nineteenth day of July, 1948, he has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India since the date of his migration, or
(ii) in the case where such person has so migrated on or after the nineteenth day of July, 1948, he has been registered as a citizen of India by an officer appointed in that behalf by the Government of theDominion of India on an application made by him therefore to such officer before the commencement of this Constitution in the form and manner prescribed by that Government:
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.
7. Rights of citizenship of certain migrants to Pakistan– Notwithstanding anything in articles 5 and 6, a person who has after the first day of March, 1947, migrated from the territory of India to the territory now included in Pakistan shall not be deemed to be a citizen of India:
Provided that nothing in this article shall apply to a person who, after having so migrated to the territory now included in Pakistan, has returned to the territory of India under a permit for resettlement or permanent return issued by or under the authority of any law and every such person shall for the purposes of clause (b) of article 6 be deemed to have migrated to the territory of India after the nineteenth day of July, 1948.
8. Rights of citizenship of certain persons of Indian origin residing outside India– Notwithstanding anything in article 5, any person who or either of whose parents or any of whose grand-parents was born in India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935 (as originally enacted), 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 for the time being residing on an application made by him therefore to such diplomatic or consular representative, whether before or after the commencement of this Constitution, in the form and manner prescribed by the Government of the Dominion of India or the Government of India.
9. Persons voluntarily acquiring citizenship 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.
10. Continuance 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.
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.
Specific provisions about the requirements and eligibiity of citizenshi have been made in the Citizenship Act passed by the Parliament in the year 1955. Citizenship Act 1955 provides for acquisition and loss of citizenship after the coming into force of the Constitution. Provisions were made for citizenship of the Commonwelath in the original Act, which were repealed by the Citizenship (amendment) Act, 2003.
Indian Citizenship Act 1955 prescribes five methods of acquiring citizenship - By birth, By Descent, By Registration, By Naturalisation and by Incorporation of territory
1. By Birth:
a. Every person born in India on or after 26th January, 1950 but before 1st July, 1987 whatever be the citizenship of the parents of such a person.
b. Every person born in India on or after 1st July, 1987 if at least one of his parents was an Indian citizen at the time of his birth.
c. Every person born in India on or after 3rd December, 2004 if both parents were citizens of India at the time of his birth or at least on parent was citizen of India at the time of his birth and the other parent was not illegal migrant in India.
Provided that children of diplomats posted in India and children of enemy aliens cannot get citizenship of India by birth.
2. By Registration:
[(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and such other conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed, the Central Government may, on an application made in
this behalf, register as a citizen of India any person not being an illegal migrant who is not already such citizen by virtue of the Constitution or of any other provision of this Act if he belongs to any of the following categories, namely:?
(a) a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration;
(b) a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in any country or place outside undivided India;
(c) a person who is married to a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration;
(d) minor children of persons who are citizens of India;
(e) a person of full age and capacity whose parents are registered as citizens of India under clause (a) of this sub-section or sub-section (1) of section 6;
(f) a person of full age and capacity who, or either of his parents, was earlier citizen of independent India, and [is ordinarily resident in India for twelve months] immediately before making an application for registration;
(g) a person of full age and capacity who has been registered as an [Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder] for five years, and who [is ordinarily resident in India for twelve months] before making an application for registration.
Explanation 1.?For the purposes of clauses (a) and (c), an applicant shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident in India if?
(i) he has resided in India throughout the period of twelve months immediately before making an application for registration; and
(ii) he has resided in India during the eight years immediately preceding the said period of twelve months for a period of not less than six years.
Explanation 2.?For the purposes of this sub-section, a person shall be deemed to be of Indian origin if he, or either of his parents, was born in undivided India or in such other territory which became part of India after the 15th day of August, 1947.]
The person shall have to take oath of alegiance to India before being registered as a citizen.
3. By Descent:
a. on or after the 26th day of January, 1950, but before the 10th day of December, 1992, if his father is a citizen of India at the time of his birth; or
b. on or after the 10th day of December, 1992, if either of his parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth.
c. If a person born outside India or born after 3rd December, 2004 wants to get citizenship of India, the parents will have to declare that the minor child does not hold passport of any other country and his birth is registered in Indian Conulate within one year.
4. Ny Naturalisation:
(1) Where an application is made in the prescribed manner by any person of full age and capacity [not being an illegal migrant] for the grant of a certificate of naturalisation to him, the Central Government may, if satisfied that the applicant is qualified for naturalisation under the provisions of the Third Schedule, grant to him a certificate of naturalisation:
Provided that, if in the opinion of the Central Government, the applicant is a person who has rendered distinguished service to the cause of science, philosophy, art, literature, world peace or human progress generally, it may waive all or any of the conditions specified in the Third Schedule.
(2) The person to whom a certificate of naturalisation is granted under sub-section (1) shall, on taking the oath of allegiance in the form specified in the Second Schedule, be a citizen of India by naturalisation as from the date on which that certificate is granted.
5. By incorporation of territory:
?If any territory becomes a part of India, the Central Government may, by order notified in the Official Gazette, specify the persons who shall be citizens of India by reason of their connection with that territory; and those persons shall be citizens of India as from the date to be specified in the order..
The Act does not provide for double citizenship.
Important Amendments
This Act was amended in the years 1986, 1992, 2003, 2005, 2015 and 2019. The principle of citizenship by birth has been constricted by these amendments.
1. Amendment in the year 1986:
By this amendment provision was added that those who were born after 26th January 1950 but before 1st July 1987 in India will be citizens of India. Those born in India on or after 1st July, 1987 but before 4th December, 2003 will get citizenship fo India by birth only if at least one of the parents was citizen of India at the time of his birth.
2. Amendment of the year 2003:
keeping in mind illegal migration from Bangla Desh this condition was made stricter. For persons born in India on or after 4th December, 2004, both parents should be citizens of India at the time of his birth or at least one parent should be citizen of India and the other parent should not be illegal migrant in India at the time of his birth.
3. Amendment in the year 2005:
Provisions for giving citizenship to all persons of Indian origin (except those resident in Pakistan and Bangla Desh) were made by the amendment of 2005. These provisions were once again amended in 2015.
4. Amendnent in the year 2015:
The Citizenship (amendment) Act, 2015 amended the provisions relating to overseas Citizen of India (OCI). It started a new scheme called Overseas Citizen of India Card Holder by amalgamating the Person of India Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card schemes.
The speech of Honourable Minister Shri Rajnath Singh on Citizenship (amendment) Act, 2015 available on YouTube channel Bharatiya Janata Party under Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed) may be seen here.
5. Amendment in the year 2019:
By this amendment if Hindu, Sikh, Boudh, Jian, Parsi and Christians from Pakistan, Afganistan and Bangla Desh, have entered India before 31st December, 2014, then they can continue to reside in India. This amendement has reduced the conidtion of residence in India for these categories of persons from 11 years to 5 years. Therse migrants have also been given relaxation in Passport Act and Foreigners Act. Rules have been notified under this Act recently. There has been opposition to this amendement in Assam and other North East States because citizenship can be given under this amendment to illegal migrant Hindus from Bangal Desh. The rationale of this amendment is that Hindus, Sikhs, Boudh, Jains, Parsis and Christians are minorities in Bangla desh, Pakistan and Afganistan and they have come to India to escape explotation. Muslims in these countries are majority therefore provision has not been made for them in this Act.
Termination of Citizenship
As per the provisions of Section 9 of the Citizenship Act 1955 citizenship of person can be terminated by one of the following methods -
.1. If an Indian Citizen voluntarily accepts the citizenship of any other country, he loses his Indian citizenship.
2. If an Indian citen voluntarily reliquishes his citizenship.
3. Government of India can also terminate the citizenship of a person if -
a. The citizen has been residing outside India for 7 years continuously.
b. If it si proved that the person had acquired citizenship of India by illegal means.
c. If the perosn is involved in Anti-National activities.
d. If the persons insults the Constitution of India.