Citizenship (Article 5-11)

The laws in India are governed by the Constitution of India. Citizenship Article 5

to 11 deal with the Citizenship of India. The draft regarding the citizenship was
created and destroyed multiple times, before incorporating the final draft in the
Constitution as Part II, it was amended over 100 times.
The problem of citizenship was as follows:
1. The people who were born and living in the territory enclosed in Pakistan
and migrated to India were to be provided Indian Citizenship.
2. The people who migrated to Pakistan but were born in India were to be
excluded and debarred from Indian Citizenship.
3. People who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 but returned back to live in the
Indian territory permanently had to be provided Citizenship.
4. People who were living abroad but were born in India had to be provided
with Indian citizenship.
Articles on Citizenship
Article Five: Citizenship During the Commencement of the Constitution
During the commencement of the Indian Constitution, each person who has his or
her domicile in the territory of India  and :
(a) who was born in the Indian territory; or
(b) either of whose parents was born in the Indian territory; or
(c) An individual who has been ordinarily resident in the Indian territory for at
least 5 years immediately preceding such commencement, shall be a citizen of
India.
Article Six: Rights of Citizenship of Certain Persons who have Migrated to
India Territory from Territory of Pakistan
The sixth citizenship article of the Indian constitution provides citizenship rights to
migrants from Pakistan to India.
Regardless of anything in article 5, a person who has migrated to the territory of
India from the territory currently enclosed in Pakistan shall be deemed to be an
Indian citizen at the commencement of this Constitution if –
   If a person migrated from Pakistan to India before 19 July 1948 shall be
considered as an Indian citizen if either of the person’s parents or any of his
grandparents were born in India as expressed in the Government of India act,
1935 and has been living or residing since the date of migration.
 For people who migrated after 19 July 1948, they should be registered as a
citizen of India by an officer from the Government of India but for
registration, the subjected person has to be a resident in the territory of India
for a minimum of six months, preceding the date of his application.
Article Seven: Rights of Citizenship of Certain Migrants to Pakistan
Regardless of anything in citizenship article 5 & 6, a person who has after the 1st
day of March 1947, migrated from the Indian territory now encompassing in
Pakistan shall not be deemed to be a citizen of India:
Given that nothing in this article shall apply to a person who after having migrated
to the territory now included in Pakistan has returned to the Indian territory under a
permit for resettlement or returning permanently issued by 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 19th day of July 1948.
Article Eight: Rights of Citizenship of Certain Persons of Indian Origin
Residing Outside India
The eighth article reads that any person who or either of whose parents or
grandparents were born in India as stated in the Government of India Act 1955 and
who is residing ordinarily in any country outside India shall be a citizen of India.
If he has registered as a Citizen of India by an Indian diplomatic or consular
representative in that country on an application made by him or her in the
prescribed document form to such diplomatic or consular representative, whether
before or after the commencement of the Constitution.
Article Nine: Persons Voluntarily Acquiring Citizenship of a Foreign State
Not to be Citizens
According to article 9, the Constitution of India does NOT allow dual citizenship,
i.e., holding Indian citizenship and citizenship of a foreign country simultaneously.
Article Ten: Continuance of the Rights of Citizenship
The Article 10 states that every person who is or is deemed to be a citizen of India
in any of the preceding provisions of this Part shall, subject to the provisions of
any law that may be made by Parliament, still be a citizen.
Article Eleven: Parliament to Regulate the Right of Citizenship by Law
Given the already declared provisions in this part, there is nothing else that can
take away the power of Parliament to make any provision with respect to the
acquisition and termination of citizenship and any other matter regarding the same.

What is citizenship?
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); and right to vote and become members of
the union and state legislatures.
Several offices can also be occupied exclusively by citizens: 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).
Equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India
(Article 14 ) and protection of life or personal liberty (Article 21) are applicable to
non-citizens as well.
What are the constitutional provisions relating to citizenship in India?
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.
Who were the persons who were deemed to be citizens of India when the
constitution was promulgated?
There are four categories of persons, identified between Articles 5 and 8 of the
constitution, who were deemed eligible to become citizens of India when the
constitution came into effect.
i) Citizenship by domicile (Article 5): A person who was born in India or either
of the person’s parents was born in India or the person must have been an
ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years immediately
before the commencement of the constitution. Domicile of a person is in that
country in which the person either has or is deemed by law to have his/her
permanent house.
ii) Citizenship of migrants to India from Pakistan (Article 6): Persons who
have migrated from Pakistan to India have been classified into two categories: i)
those who came to India before July 19, 1948, and ii) those who came on or after
July 19, 1948.

In the case of persons migrating before July 19, 1948, if the person has been
ordinarily residing in India since the date of her migration, and in case of a person
migrating on or after July 19, 1948, if he/she has been registered as a citizen of
India, after residing for at least six months immediately before the date of applying
for registration, by an officer appointed by the government of India, shall be
deemed to be a citizen of India.
iii) Citizenship of migrants of Pakistan (Article 7): If a citizen of India has
migrated to Pakistan after March 1, 1947, but returned to India on the basis of
permit for resettlement in India, the person is entitled to become a citizen of India
if he/she registers herself as a citizen of India, after residing for at least six months
immediately before the date of applying for registration, by an officer appointed by
the government of India.
iv) Citizenship of persons of Indian origin residing outside India (Article
8): Indian nationals (whose parents or any grandparents were born in India as
defined in the Government of India Act, 1935) residing abroad shall be conferred
Indian citizenship, as if they have been registered by the diplomatic or consular
representatives of India in the country where they are residing.
What are the provisions under the Citizenship Act, 1955?
The Act provides for acquisition of Indian citizenship in the following ways:
i) 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.
By the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2003, persons born after December 3, 2004,
would be deemed to be citizens of India if either of the parents is Indian or one of
the parents is a citizen of India and the other was not an illegal migrant at the time
of the person’s birth.
“Illegal migrant” means a foreigner who has entered India: without a valid
passport or travel documents; or with a valid passport or travel documents but
remained in the country beyond the permitted period of time.
ii) 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.
iii) 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.
iv) Citizenship by naturalization: A person is granted a certificate of
naturalization if the person is not an illegal migrant and has resided in India for 12
months before making an application to seek the certificate. Of the 14 years
preceding this 12-months duration, the person must have stayed in India for 11
years.
v) 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.
If the central government is of the opinion that an 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 conditions
specified to attain Indian citizenship.
What are the provisions in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019?
The newly amended law provides for granting of Indian citizenship to Hindus,
Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
The law will not be extended to Rohingya Muslims persecuted in Myanmar; Shia
and Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan; Hazaras, Tajiks and Uzbeks in Afghanistan;
Tamils in Sri Lanka; and atheists in Bangladesh.
Is the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 unconstitutional?
Prior to 2019, the amendments in the Citizenship Act, 1955 never explicitly
restricted grant to citizenship to certain religious communities. The previous
governments had a holistic approach – either they never provided for citizenship to
illegal migrants or provided citizenship to illegal migrants belonging to all the
communities.
Omitting certain religious communities has raised questions about whether the
secular credentials of the constitution were being discarded. More so, specific
denial of citizenship to Muslims, by the BJP government that has been very vocal
about its Islamophobic stances, hints that a larger communal agenda of the BJP and
RSS is at play.
Legal experts say that the new citizenship law violates the fundamental right under
Article 14 of the Indian constitution that guarantees equal protection of laws, even
to the aliens, in the territory of India.
What about citizenship for Indian Muslims?
In the new citizenship law, Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and
Afghanistan have been excluded. However, there remains sufficient reason for
worry for Indian Muslims who could be stripped of their citizenship by means of
the National Register of Citizens (NRC) – as in the case of Assam – following
which they would not be granted Indian citizenship under the latest Citizenship
Amendment Act as it explicitly excludes members of the Muslim community.
Are there any states exempted from the implementation of the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, 2019?
Parts of north-east under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime and those included in
the sixth schedule to the Indian Constitution have been exempted from the
application of Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The bill states, “Nothing in this
section shall apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as
included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under ‘The
Inter Line’ notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.”
To enter Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland (excluding Dimapur) and Mizoram, one
requires a special permit ILP. Therefore, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and
Mizoram along with parts of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura have been kept out of
the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.