Citizenship
Citizen – enjoys full civil & political rights.
Alien – do not enjoy these rights.
Part II of Constitution describes classes of people who would be deemed to be citizens at the commencement of Constitution.
Law regarding citizenship to be regulated by Parliament.
Art. 5 Citizenship by domicile
i) Must have domicile in territory of India at the commencement of Constitution.
ii) Should be born in India, either of parents were born in India
iii) Ordinarily resident in territory of India for not less than 5 years immediately before commencement of Constitution
Art. 6- Citizenship of migrants to India from
Pakistan –
Those who came before July 19, 1948
Who came on or after July 19, 1948, needs to register as citizen by an officer appointed by GOI.
Person migrated from Pakistan shall be deemed to be citizen if he or either of his parents or any grandparents were born in India as defined in GOI Act 1935
Art. 7 - Rights of citizenship of certain
migrants to Pakistan migrated to Pakistan after March 1, 1947, but subsequently returned on resettlement permits were included within the citizenship net
Art. 8 - Provided Rights of citizenship of certain persons of Indian origin residing outside India.
Person of Indian Origin residing outside India who, or either of whose parents or grandparents, was born in India could register himself or herself as an Indian citizen with Indian Diplomatic Mission
Art. 9 - Provided that if any person voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign State will no longer be a citizen of India.
Art.10 - 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.
Art. 11 - empowers Parliament to make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination of citizenship and all matters relating to it.
Four ways in which Indian citizenship can be acquired
i) Birth
ii) Descent
iii) Registration and
iv) Naturalisation
Birth –
i) Person born in India on or after 26.01.1950 but before 01.07.1987 is an Indian citizen irrespective of the nationality of his/her parents.
ii) Person born in India between 01.07.1987 and 02.12.2004 is a citizen of India given either of his/her parents is a citizen of the country at the time of his/her birth.
iii) Person born in India on or after 3.12.2004 is a citizen of the country given both his/her parents are Indians or at least one parent is a
Registration –
i) Person of Indian origin who has been a resident of India for 7 years before applying for registration.
ii) Person of Indian origin who is a resident of any country outside undivided India.
iii) Person who is married to an Indian citizen and is ordinarily resident for 7 years before applying for registration.
iv) Minor children of persons who are citizens of India citizen and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of birth.
Descent -
i) Person born outside India on or after January 26, 1950 is a citizen of India by descent if his/her father was a citizen of India by birth.
ii) Person born outside India on or after December 10, 1992, but before December 3, 2004 if either of his/her parent was a citizen of India by birth.
iii) Person born outside India or or after December 3, 2004 has to acquire citizenship, his/her parents have to declare that the minor does not hold a passport of another country and his/her birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year of birth.
Naturalisation –
A person can acquire citizenship by naturalisation if he/she is ordinarily resident of India for 12 years (throughout 12 months preceding the date of application and 11 years in the aggregate) and fulfils all qualifications in the third schedule of the Citizenship Act
CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), 2019 –
i) Permit members of six communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan — to continue to live in India if they entered India before December 14, 2014.
ii) Reduces the requirement for citizenship from 11 years to just 6 years.
CAA allows a person to apply for citizenship by naturalisation, if the person meets certain qualifications. One of the qualifications is that the person must have resided in India or been in central government service for the last 12 months and at least 11 years of the preceding 14 years. For the specified class of illegal migrants, the number of years of residency has been relaxed from 11 years to five years.
Are the provisions of the Bill applicable across the country?
The Bill clarifies that the proposed amendments on citizenship to the specified class of illegal migrants will not apply to certain areas. These are -
i) Tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura, as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, and
ii) States regulated by the “Inner Line” permit under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations 1873. These Sixth Schedule tribal areas include Karbi Anglong (in Assam), Garo Hills (in Meghalaya), Chakma
District (in Mizoram), and Tripura Tribal Areas District. Further, the Inner Line Permit regulates visit of all persons, including Indian citizens, to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland.