Introduction
Part ii (Articles 5 to 11)
of our, Constitution deals with the matters of Citizenship of India. A citizen of the state is a person, who enjoys
full civil and political rights. India has two kinds of persons living in the
country namely Citizens and Aliens. The Citizens are the permanent and full
members of the Union of India who enjoy all the civil and political rights. On
the other hand, Aliens are the people belonging to some other nation and are
citizens of some other country.
Part ii of the Constitution
simply describes citizenship of classes of persons living in India at the
commencement of the Constitution, i.e., 26th January 1950 and leaves the
entire Law of Citizenship of India to
be regulated by legislation made by the Parliament.
Part ii Citizenship
Article 5: Citizenship of
India at the commencement of the constitution.
Article 6: Rights of Citizenship of certain persons of Indian origin residing outside India.
Article 7: Rights of Citizenship of certain migrants to Pakistan.
Article 8: Rights of citizenship
of certain persons of Indian origin residing outside India.
Article 9: Persons
voluntarily acquiring Citizenship of a Foreign State not to be citizens.
Article 10: Continuance of
the Rights of Citizenship of India.
Article 11: Parliament to
regulate the Right of Citizenship of
India by Law.
Provisions Related to Citizenship of India
As per our Constitution,
following categories of people became citizens of India at its commencement on
26th January 1950.
1. A person with domicile in the territory of India and born in Indian territory or either of his/her parents
were born in India or if he is ordinarily resident in India for 5 years immediately
after preceding the commencement of the Constitution (Article 5).
2. A person, Who migrated
from Pakistan to India and is born in undivided India or any of his parents or
any of the grandparents were born in undivided India and fulfills any one of
the two conditions, in case, he migrated to India before 19th July 1948, he
has been ordinarily resident in India since the date of his migration or in
case, he migrated to India on or after 19th July 1948, he had been registered
as a citizen of India (Article 6).
3. A person, who migrated to
Pakistan from India after 1st March 1947, but later returned to India for
resettlement could become an Indian citizen, after being a resident of India for
six months presiding his date of application for registration for Citizenship
of India (Article 7).
4. A person who or any of
whose parents or grandparents, was born in undivided India but who is ordinarily
residing outside India shall become an Indian Citizen if he has been registered
as a citizen of India by the diplomatic or consular representative of India in
the country of his residence, whether before or after the commencement of the
Constitution. Thus this provision covers the overseas Indians who may want to
acquire Citizenship of India (Article 8). There is another form of Citizenship,
Which is automatically incorporated if any new territory becomes the part of
the Union of India.
Getting Citizenship of India
As per the Citizenship Act
of 1955, there are five ways of acquiring Citizenship in India.
By Birth
Every person born in India
on or after 26th January 1950, shall be a citizen of India 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 parent/parents are diplomats of any other
country or is an enemy alien at the time of his/her birth.
By Descent
Broadly, a person born
outside India on or after 26th January 1950, is a citizen of India by descent
if his/either of the parents is a citizen of India at the time of that
person's birth.
By Registration
The prescribed authority
may, on application, register as a citizen of India, any person who is not a citizen under the Constitution or the provisions of the Citizenship Act.
This mode of acquiring Citizenship
of India is available to any of the following categories
1. Persons of Indian origin
who is ordinarily resident in India for 7 years immediately before making an
application for registration.
2. Persons of Indian origin
who is ordinarily resident in any country or place outside undivided India.
3. Persons who are or have
been married to citizens of India.
4. Minor children of persons
who are the citizens of India?
5. A person of full age and
capacity whose parents are registered as citizens of India.
6. A person of full age and
capacity who or either of his parents was earlier citizen of independent India
and has been residing in India for one year immediately before making an
application for registration.
7. A person of full age and
capacity who has been registered as an overseas citizen of India for five years
and who has been residing in India for one year before making an application
for registration.
All the above categories of
persons are required to take an oath of allegiance before they are registered
as citizens in India.
{
An Ordinary Resident
An applicant shall be deemed
to be ordinarily resident in India if
·
he/she has resided in India throughout the
period of twelve months immediately before making an application for
registration and
·
he/she has resided in India for the eight
years immediately preceding the said period of twelve months for a period of not
less than six years.
Person of Indian Origin
Broadly a person of Indian
origin is a citizen of another country who
·
was a citizen of India on 26th January 1950
or at any time thereafter; or
·
belonged to a territory that became a part of
India after 15th August 1947; or
·
is the child or grandchild of a person
described above; and
·
has never been a citizen of Pakistan or
Bangladesh
Aliens
Aliens are generally divided
in to two categories namely
Friendly Aliens: Those who
belong to those countries, which have friendly relations with India.
Enemy Aliens: Those belonging
to the countries, which are at war with India. They enjoy lesser rights than
the friendly aliens.
}
By Naturalization
Citizenship of India by
naturalization can be acquired by making an application in the prescribed
manner.
The qualification for
naturalization are the following :
1. He must be a person of
full age and capacity.
2. He must not be a citizen of
a country where Indian citizens are prevented from becoming citizens by
naturalization.
3. He has renounced the
citizenship of the other country.
4. He has either resided in
India or has been in government service for 12 months before the date of making
the application for naturalization, or during 7 years before these 12 months,
he has resided or has been in the government service for not less than four
years.
5. He must take an oath of
allegiance.
6. He is of good
character.
7. He has adequate
knowledge of a language recognized by the Constitution.
By Incorporation of Territories
If any territory becomes a
part of India, after a popular verdict, the Government of India shall specify
the person of that territory to be the citizen of India.
In India, there is a single
citizenship i.e., citizenship of India. A citizen is an individual who enjoys
all the rights are given by the law, available in the country.
Losing Citizenship of India
The citizenship Act, 1955,
also describes three-way of losing one's citizenship in India using
renunciation, termination, and deprivation.
Renunciation
It is covered in Section 8
of the Citizenship Act, 1955. If an adult citizen of India makes in the
prescribed manner a declaration shall be registered by the Central Government
and upon such registration, that person shall cease to be a citizen of India.
Termination
When a citizen of India of
full age and capacity voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country,
the Indian Citizenship of that person shall be automatically terminated.
Deprivation
The Central Government under
section 10 of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 can deprive anyone of Indian
Citizenship if it is satisfied that the registration or certificate of
naturalization was obtained using fraud, false representation or
concealment of any material fact or the citizen of India has, during any war,
in which Indian may be engaged, unlawfully traded, or communicated with an enemy
or been engaged in or associated with, any business or commercial activity that
was to his knowledge carried on in such manner as to assist an enemy in that
war or the citizen of India has, within five years after registration has been
sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years.
Dual Citizenship and OCI
(Overseas Citizens of India)
The Constitution of India
forbids Dual Citizenship. No person can hold an Indian passport simultaneously
with the passport of another country. There is however a form of Indian
Nationality is known as Overseas Citizens of India(OCI).
The Indian Government on the application may register any person as an Overseas Citizen of India if that
person is of Indian Origin and is from a country, which allows Dual Citizenship
in some form or other. OCI however is not a full Citizenship of India and is
not equivalent to Dual Citizenship.
People with OCI status are
given a type of Visa known as U-Visa, which is attached to the passport of the
country of which they are citizens. This Visa allows the holders multiple entries, multi-purpose, life-long visits to India. Persons holding this visa are not
required to obtain separate work permits to work in India.
Overseas Citizens of India
are not eligible to hold constitutional posts or be appointed to public
services, OCI is also not allowed to invest in agriculture or plantation
properties.
Non-Resident Indians (NRI)
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)
are Indian citizens, who stay abroad for employment/carrying on business or
vocation outside India. section 20 of Representation of People Act (RPA)-1950
discuss; if a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) from getting his/her name registered
in the electoral rolls. Consequently, it also prevents an NRIs from casting
his/her vote in elections to the parliament and to the State Legislature.
In August 2010, Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill-2010 which allows voting rights to NRIs were passed in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha with subsequent gazette notifications on 24th November 2010. With this NRIs will now be able to vote in Indian elections, but have to be physically present at the time of voting.
Also Read:
The preamble to the constitution of India
Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression
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