Indian Citizenship

A citizen is a person who enjoys full membership of the
community or State in which he lives or ordinarily lives.

Citizens are different from aliens, who do not enjoy all the
rights which are essential for full membership of a state.
Indian Citizenship
Part II of the Constitution simply describes classes of
persons living in India at the commencement of the
Constitution, i.e. 26th January, 1950, and leaves the entire
law of the citizenship to be regulated by legislations made
by the Parliament. In exercise of its power, the Parliament
has enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, which was
subsequently amended in 1986.
The Act provides for the acquisition of Indian citizenship
after the commencement of the Constitution in five ways,
i.e. birth, descent, registration, naturalization and
incorporation of territory.
1. By birth- Every person born in India on or after Jan 26,
1950, shall be a citizen of India by law of soil (Jus Soli),
provided either or both of his/her parents are citizens of
India at the time of his/her birth. But this law does not
apply where his/her father is a diplomat of any other
country or is an enemy alien at the time of his/her birth.
2. By descent- Broadly, a person bom outside India on or
after January 26, 1950, is a citizen of India by descent if
his/her father is a citizen of India at the time of that
persons birth i.e. law of blood (Jus Sanguine).
3. By registration- Any person who is not a citizen of India
by virtue of the Constitution or any of the provisions of the
Citizenship Act may acquire citizenship by applying for
registration for such a purpose. However, he/she should
have lived in India for at least 5 years, for not less than 90
days a year, immediately before making such an
application.
4. By naturalisation- A foreigner can acquire citizenship of
India by applying for such before a competent authority
provided, he/ she had lived in India for at least 10 years.
5. By incorporation of territories- If any new territory
becomes a part of India, after a popular verdict, the
Government of India may notify the person of that territory
to be citizens of India.
Termination of citizenship
The Citizenship Act, 1955 also lays down three modes by
which an Indian citizen may lose his/her citizenship. These
are renunciation, termination and deprivation.
Renunciation is a voluntary act by which a person, after
acquiring the citizenship of another country, gives up his
Indian citizenship. This provision is subject to certain
conditions.
Termination takes place by operation of law when an Indian
citizen voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another
country. He automatically ceases to be an Indian citizen.
Deprivation is a compulsory termination of the citizenship
of India obtained by Registration or Naturalisation, by the
Government of India, on charges of using fraudulent means
to acquire citizenship.
Dual Citizenship
The Indian Constitution, under Art. 11, gives power to the
Indian Parliament to legislate on citizenship matters.
Accordingly, Parliament enacted the Citizenship Act in
1955. Art. 9 says that citizenship means full citizenship. The
Constitution does not recognise divided allegiance. Section
10 of the Citizenship Act says that a person cannot have
allegiance to the Indian Constitution as well as to the
Constitution of another country. The Indian courts have
consistently ruled against dual citizenship.
If an Indian citizen acquires citizenship of another country,
he loses the Indian citizenship. For example, if a child of
parents who are citizens of India, is born in another country
and does not renounce the citizenship of that country on
attainment of adulthood, he/she loses the Indian
citizenship.
The reason for the denial of dual citizenship is that
citizenship entails certain duties like serving in the army, if
the need be.
Rights not available to Aliens
1. right not to be discriminated against on grounds of race,
caste, religion, sex or place of birth (Art. 15)
2. right to equality of opportunity in public employment
(Art. 16)
3. right to six fundamental freedoms under Art. 1 9.
4. right of suffrage
5. cultural and educational rights conferred by Arts. 29 &30.
6. rights to hold certain offices-President, Vice-President,
Governor of States, Judges of Supreme Court or High
Courts, Attorney General of India, Comptroller and Auditor
General, etc.
7. right to contest election and get elected to either House at
the Centre or State level.
Can a person not born in India,
but having acquired citizenship
by registration or otherwise,
become the Prime Minister of
India?
The likelihood of the President of Indian National Congress
(Indira), Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, becoming the Prime Minister
of India after being elected to the 13th Lok Sabha generated
a controversy whether a person who becomes a citizen of
India either by registration or naturalization should occupy,
what effectively is, the highest position in the country. The
Constitutional position is as follows:
Art. 14 guarantees equality before law Arts. 15 and 16
prohibit discrimination and commit the government to
equality of opportunity.
Art. 16 guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of
Government employment and appointment.
The Constitution does not differentiate between an ordinary
and a naturalised citizen as far as eligibility to contest for
the Lok Sabha seat is concerned and thereafter, any
member is constitutionally entitled to become the Prime
Minister provided the requisite support in Lok Sabha is
available.
Therefore, the India Constitution does not bar a naturalised
citizen from becoming a Prime Minister. However, in the
US, the Constitution permits naturalised citizens to become
members of the Senate only (Federal House) but not the
President.
Moreover, naturalised citizens can hold any high post other
than that of President in the US. This defies logic. For
example, the former Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine
Albright, is a naturalised US citizen. She had been invited to
head the government of her native country. Some experts
cite internal security as a reason for such a law in the USA.
If this is the reason, the Secretary of State can also pose a
threat to the internal security. This shows that there is no
sound reason behind the exclusion of a naturalised citizen
from becoming the President of the USA. So, we should not
try to cite the faulty law in the US Constitution for opposing
Sonia Gandhi from becoming the Prime Minister of India.
But whether she has the necessary competence to hold the
top job of our country is another question altogether.

Indian Citizenship

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Indian Citizenship

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A citizen is a person who enjoys full membership of the

community or State in which he lives or ordinarily lives.

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