Citizenship

Topic: Citizenship: Idea and Indian Law · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Citizenship"

Meaning

Citizenship is full and equal membership of a political community. A political community is a group of people who live under one state and govern themselves together. Membership gives a person a shared political identity, a set of rights, and protection abroad. In return, the person has duties to the state and to fellow citizens. In India, citizenship is governed by Part II of the Constitution (Articles 5–11) and the Citizenship Act, 1955.

It matters because every other right depends on it. A person without a state behind them has no one to guarantee their rights.

Explanation

What "full and equal membership" means

• Full: the member holds the whole set of rights, not just some of them.
• Equal: every member has the same rights and the same status.

• Rights held by only a few people are a privilege, not citizenship.

• The state gives its members three things:

• a shared political identity, such as Indian, Japanese or German
• a set of rights

• protection when they travel abroad

• Rights were won through struggle. No ruler simply handed them over. People fought for them.

The rights citizens hold (NCERT)

Kind of right	What it covers	Examples
Political rights	Taking part in government	The right to vote
Civil rights	Personal freedoms	Freedom of speech, freedom of belief
Socio-economic rights	A basic standard of living	Minimum wage, education

The obligations of citizenship

• Obligations are wider than legal duties.
• Legal duties are owed to the state, such as obeying laws and paying taxes.

• Citizens also owe duties to each other.

• The moral obligations are:

• Taking part: joining in the shared life of the community and contributing to it.
• Trusteeship: citizens act as trustees (caretakers who hold something on behalf of others, including future generations) of the country's culture and natural resources.
• Peaceful settlement: citizens settle disputes by negotiation and discussion, not force.

T.H. Marshall's theory and its limits

• T.H. Marshall was an English sociologist. He wrote Citizenship and Social Class (1950) [2].
• He saw citizenship mainly as equality. It grows in two ways:
• Better rights: the rights themselves become richer and wider.

• More holders: more and more people get those rights.

• Citizenship works against class. Marshall called class a "system of inequality". Citizenship gives everyone an equal status, and this brings the community together.

• His three kinds of rights:
• Civil rights protect life, liberty and property.
• Political rights let a person take part in government, for example by voting or standing for election.

• Social rights give access to education and employment, plus a share in social welfare.

• The British order: civil rights (18th century), then political rights (19th century), then social rights (20th century).

• The 20th-century welfare state created social citizenship, a right to material resources and social services [2].

• Critiques:

• Anglo-centric: the theory is based on Britain's history. In India, the rights came in a different order.
• Blind to gender and race: women and racial minorities often got rights much later.

• Assumes the nation-state: it ignores migrants, refugees and stateless people.

• Why statelessness matters: refugees and illegal migrants often have no state that will protect them. Palestinians are an example. They have no guaranteed rights, no secure political identity and no protection abroad.

In the Constitution and practice

• Who is a citizen: Part II (Articles 5–11) decides who was a citizen when the Constitution began in 1950. Article 11 lets Parliament make laws on citizenship. Parliament used this power to pass the Citizenship Act, 1955, which was later changed by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. Its rules came in 2024.
• Civil rights, Articles 19–22:
• Article 19 protects freedom of speech and movement.
• Article 21 protects life and personal liberty.

• Article 22 protects people against arbitrary arrest.

• Political rights, Article 326 (universal adult suffrage, meaning every adult citizen can vote):

• Elections to the Lok Sabha and to every State Legislative Assembly are held by adult suffrage. Every citizen aged 18 or over can vote [5].
• The 1950 text set the voting age at 21. The 61st Amendment Act, 1988 lowered it to 18 [5].
• In the Constituent Assembly, this was Draft Article 289B. It was introduced and adopted on 16 June 1949 [5].

• One member said adult franchise was impractical in India. The President of the Assembly replied that the Assembly had already accepted the principle [5].

• Social rights, Article 21A, the Directive Principles and wide readings of Article 21:

• The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21A. It was notified on 13 December 2002 [6][7].
• Under Article 21A, the State must give free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14, in the way it decides by law [6].

• This made education a Fundamental Right [8].

• Obligations, Article 51A (Fundamental Duties, Part IVA):

• The Sardar Swaran Singh Committee recommended Fundamental Duties. The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 inserted them during the Emergency [3][4].
• The 42nd Amendment listed 10 duties. The 86th Amendment, 2002 added an 11th, clause (k) [3][4].
• Clause (k) says a parent or guardian must give their child, aged 6–14, opportunities for education. So the right in Article 21A and the duty in Article 51A(k) come as a pair [3][7].
• NCERT's obligations map onto Article 51A:
  • Trustee of culture → 51A(f): preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture [3]
  • Trustee of natural resources → 51A(g): protect the environment and have compassion for living creatures [3]
  • Peaceful settlement → 51A(i): safeguard public property and abjure (give up) violence [3]
  • Duties between citizens → 51A(e): promote harmony and brotherhood [3]
  • Taking part → 51A(j): strive for excellence [3]
  • Rational public life → 51A(h): develop scientific temper [3]

• These duties are non-justiciable. No court can enforce them through a writ (a formal court order). Courts still use them to help interpret laws [4].

• In practice: India gave all adults the vote at once in 1950. Education became a Fundamental Right only in 2002. This reverses Marshall's British order.

Don't confuse with

• Nationality: nationality is a person's identity by birth or belonging to a nation. Citizenship is legal membership of a state, with rights and duties attached.
• Privilege: a privilege is a right held by only a few. Citizenship means the same rights and the same status for every member.
• Statelessness or refugee status: a stateless person has no state that guarantees their rights or protects them abroad. Palestinians are NCERT's example. Statelessness is the opposite of citizenship.
• Fundamental Rights vs Fundamental Duties: most Fundamental Rights (such as Articles 19, 21 and 21A) can be enforced in court. Fundamental Duties under Article 51A cannot be enforced through a writ [4].

Prelims Hooks

• T.H. Marshall wrote Citizenship and Social Class (1950). His order was civil rights (18th century), then political (19th), then social (20th). Social citizenship is tied to the welfare state [2].
• Article 326 gives adult suffrage. The 61st Amendment Act, 1988 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. It began as Draft Article 289B, adopted on 16 June 1949 [5].
• The 86th Amendment (2002) did three things: inserted Article 21A (education for ages 6–14), added duty 51A(k), and changed Article 45 [3][6][7].
• Article 51A was inserted by the 42nd Amendment (1976) on the Swaran Singh Committee's advice. It started with 10 duties and now has 11 [3][4].
• Duty matches: composite culture = 51A(f), environment = 51A(g), scientific temper = 51A(h), abjure violence = 51A(i) [3].
• Trap: Fundamental Duties cannot be enforced through a writ, but courts use them to interpret laws [4].

Mains Points

• Equal on paper, unequal in fact: Article 326 gives every adult the vote, and Article 21A and the Directive Principles aim to give social rights. These push back against the inequalities of caste and class. But most social rights still rest on non-justiciable Directive Principles, which no court can enforce. So "full and equal membership" is only partly achieved.
• India does not fit Marshall's order: India gave universal adult suffrage at once in 1950 (Article 326). Education became a Fundamental Right only in 2002 (Article 21A). This reversed Britain's order of civil, then political, then social rights, and it supports the critique that Marshall's model is Anglo-centric [2][5][6].
• Rights and duties: Article 51A turns NCERT's moral obligations into constitutional text: trusteeship of culture (51A(f)) and of the environment (51A(g)), and giving up violence (51A(i)). But the duties cannot be enforced, and they were added during the Emergency. This raises a question: should duties stay a moral call, or become enforceable? Stateless people, such as Palestinians, also show that rights depend on belonging to a state. This links the theory to India's own debates on refugees and on who counts as a citizen [3][4].

Related concepts

• Obligations of citizenship
• Marshall's theory of citizenship
• Civil rights
• Social rights

Read more

• Citizenship as full and equal membership: rights and obligations