It has become important that one must know the meaning of a term citizens in the context of an Indian

law. In a limited sense it means that those persons who resides in a city or enjoys the benefit of living in
the said city and in a larger sense Citizen means those persons who resides within the territorial
jurisdictional of the said state.

Niraja Gopal Jayal has tried best to put up the ideal of Indian citizenship across the twentieth century
not only by developing a relation between the individuals but also with the states. Jayal has stated that,
The citizenship is about the legal status, the rights, entitlements, identity and these legal, social and
cultural dimensions are so connected with each other in way that they come close and

Nationality and citizenship are often used interchangeably in general discourse in India. here is a certain
ambiguity about these terms, especially in more recent times, when ‘nationality’ and ‘nationalism’ have
once again become sites of strife.

In Indian citizenship law however – at least as courts have interpreted these concepts - there exists a
clear distinction between citizenship and nationality. In a case decided in the 1960s, the Indian Supreme
Court held that citizenship is applied only to natural persons and connotes a legal status that determines
civil and political rights within the context of domestic law. Nationality, on the other hand, can be
applied to either natural persons or juristic persons and determines the civic rights of a person in the
context of international law. The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd. And Ors. v. The Commercial
Tax Officer, Vishakhapatnam and Ors., 1964 SCR (4) 89.

The citizenship carries with it certain benefits advantages, rights, duties, privileges and obligations and
same are not available to an alien. 654 As some fundamental rights are available only to the citizens of
our country, such as Article 15,16,19,29, 30, Articles like Articles 58,67,76, 157,165 124,217, are only
available to the citizens such as right to public offices because only they are eligible for the recruitment
in all the public services and the right to vote.

The Two Principles of Citizenship by Birth

Jus soli-means a right by birth the word has been taken from a Latin word “Ju-Soli” means a right of the
soil usually referred to a citizenship by birth, in short it means it is a right available to a person who had
taken a birth within the territory of a state or nation to which he/she belongs. Indian nationality law has
been governed with the rule of Jus Sanguinis which means a citizenship by blood but same is opposed to
the rule of Jus Soli. Many countries follow this rule which is commonly known as a birthright citizenship.

Jus sanguinis - It is an another form of acquiring the citizenship through parents or grandparents rule.
The U.S government follow this rule to recognise citizenship which means that in case a person is born in
the U.S and subject to its jurisdiction then he/she automatically becomes U.S citizen and government
will grant him the status. Most of the E.U. countries follows this rule in short researcher can only say
that citizenship through this is conferred to a person if he has born to those are already a citizens of that
particular country or by way of naturalization. This rule is in contradiction with the rule of Jus Soli. India
being the second most populated country of the world follows the rule of citizenship by birthright which
means a rule of Jus Soli.

Distinction between an Alien and a Citizen

It is a fact there has been a huge difference between an alien and a citizen because citizen enjoys
number of civil as well as political rights, whereas an alien does not have the privilege to enjoy such
right. 673 An alien has only a privilege to enjoy few social rights which the government of country
permit to an alien and Article 14 and 21 are available to them.

There are two types of alien which are explained below :-

i) Friendly aliens are those aliens who are not enemy aliens and belongs to those countries who
share cordial relation with our country .
ii) Enemy alien are those whose state is at war with our country and they only have few rights as
comparing with the friendly alien. They doesn’t enjoy the protection against arrest and
detention which is otherwise available to friendly alien and enshrined under Article 22 of the
Indian constitution.

Various Constitutional provisions pertaining to Citizenship. T

he citizenship provisions are enshrined in Part II of the Indian Constitution from Article 5 to Article-11. It
is a matter of record that the constitution has not laid any permanent and detailed provision for
citizenship in India. The citizenship law in India is governed with the Citizenship Act, 1955 and with the
Indian constitution and it is only India whose citizenship law is incorporated in the constitution. In order
to provide the citizenship to those who reside within the territory of Goa, Daman and Diu, the Central
Government passed the Act and exercised its powers under Section 7 of the Citizenship, Act,1955682
and also made provisions for those persons who belong to the State of