Citizenship in the Constitution: Part II, single citizenship and citizens' rights

Detail

1. What the Constitution says about citizenship

• Citizenship means full membership of a political community. A citizen gets rights from the state and owes duties to it.
• NCERT calls the Indian idea of citizenship "essentially democratic and inclusive".
• Citizens are protected against discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

• The rights of minorities (religious and linguistic groups that are smaller in number) are also protected.

• The rules on citizenship sit in two places:

• Part II of the Constitution (Arts. 5-11).

• Laws made by Parliament after 1950, mainly the Citizenship Act, 1955 (Act No. 57 of 1955) [5].

• Citizenship is a Union subject. Only Parliament can make laws on it.

• Seventh Schedule, List I (Union List), entry 17 covers "citizenship, naturalisation and aliens".
• Naturalisation means a foreigner becoming a citizen after living in the country for a set time.
• Aliens are people who are not citizens.

2. Single citizenship

• Single citizenship means a person is a citizen of India only. There is no separate citizenship of a state. India borrowed this idea from Britain.
• Contrast with the USA: the US has dual citizenship. A person is a citizen of the USA and also of the state they live in.
• Result in India: every citizen has the same rights in every part of India, whichever state they were born in or live in.
• Exceptions (places where where you live can still matter):

Provision	What it allows
Art. 16(3)	Only Parliament (not a state legislature) may make residence in a state or UT a condition for some public jobs there
Art. 371D	Special provisions for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana: local cadres (posts kept for local people) and fair chances in public jobs and education
Former Art. 35A	Let Jammu and Kashmir define its "permanent residents" and give them special rights in jobs, land and scholarships. Ended in 2019 (see special-provisions-scheduled-areas)

• Why it matters: single citizenship ties a very diverse country together. It lets people move, work and settle anywhere under Art. 19.

3. Part II: who became a citizen on 26 January 1950

• Part II of the Constitution (Arts. 5-11) answers one question: who was a citizen on the day the Constitution started (26 January 1950)?
• It does not set out a full, permanent system for getting or losing citizenship.

• Art. 11 leaves that job to Parliament.

• Arts. 5-9 came into force early, on 26 November 1949 (Art. 394). Most of the Constitution started only on 26 January 1950.

• Arts. 5-9 started early because the status of millions of people moving across the new border after Partition had to be settled at once. The Partition background is covered in nation-building.

Article-wise rules

Article	Who / what	Rule
5	People domiciled in India	Citizen if domiciled (permanently living) in India and (a) born in India, or (b) either parent born in India, or (c) ordinarily resident (normally living) in India for at least 5 years just before 26 January 1950 [2]
6	Migrants from Pakistan to India	Needs (a) the person, a parent or any grandparent born in "India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935" [3], plus (b) one of two routes below
7	Migrants to Pakistan	Anyone who moved to Pakistan after 1 March 1947 is not a citizen. Exception: those who came back under a permit for resettlement or permanent return issued under a law [4]
8	Persons of Indian origin living abroad	Can become citizens by registering with India's diplomatic or consular office (Indian mission) in that country
9	Taking another citizenship	Voluntarily taking the citizenship of a foreign state ends Indian citizenship
10	Continuance	Citizens under Part II stay citizens, subject to any law made by Parliament
11	Parliament's power	Nothing in Part II limits Parliament's power to make laws on acquiring and ending citizenship and all other matters about citizenship [4]

Art. 6: the two routes for migrants from Pakistan

• Came before 19 July 1948:

• Citizen if ordinarily resident in India since the date they arrived [3].

• Came on or after 19 July 1948:

• Had to be registered by an officer of the Dominion of India, on an application made before 26 January 1950.

• No one could be registered unless they had lived in India for at least 6 months just before the application [3].

• The Constituent Assembly debated Art. 6 on 10-12 August 1949 and adopted it on 12 August 1949 [3].

Art. 11 in use: laws made after 1950

• Plenary power means full and complete power to make laws on a subject. Parliament used its plenary power under Art. 11 to pass the Citizenship Act, 1955. The Act sets out how citizenship is gained (birth, descent, registration, naturalisation, inclusion of territory) and lost (renunciation, termination, deprivation) [5].
• Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act No. 47 of 2019), passed on 12 December 2019 [8]:
• Who: Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India on or before 31 December 2014. They are no longer treated as illegal migrants (people who entered without valid papers or overstayed) and can apply for citizenship [6].
• Shorter wait: for this group, the residence needed for naturalisation falls from 11 years to 5 years [6].
• Areas left out: tribal areas under the Sixth Schedule (Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura) and Inner Line Permit areas (Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland). An Inner Line Permit is a pass outsiders need to enter some north-eastern areas [6].
• OCI: the government can cancel an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration if the cardholder breaks any law notified by the central government. The cardholder must first get a chance to be heard [6].

• Passage: introduced in and passed by the Lok Sabha on 9 December 2019. Passed by the Rajya Sabha on 11 December 2019 [6].

• Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, notified on 11 March 2024 under the Citizenship Rules, 2009 [7]:

• Step 1: the applicant submits proof of nationality from Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh (passport, birth certificate, licence, land records and so on), proof of entry on or before 31 December 2014, and an eligibility certificate on religion from a local community institution [7].
• Step 2: a District-level Committee, headed by the Senior Superintendent or Superintendent of Post, checks the documents and gives the oath of allegiance [7].
• Step 3: an Empowered Committee, headed by the Director of Census Operations of the state or UT, verifies the case and grants citizenship [7].
• Under the old rules, applications went through Collectors and state governments [7].

4. Rights reserved for citizens

• Rights reserved for citizens are rights and posts the Constitution gives only to citizens, not to foreigners.

Fundamental Rights only for citizens

Article	Right
15	No discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth
16	Equal chance in public employment (government jobs)
19	Six freedoms: speech, assembly, association, movement, residence, profession
29	Right of any group of citizens to protect its own language, script or culture
30	Right of minorities to set up and run their own educational institutions

Political rights and posts only for citizens

• Voting: adult suffrage (every adult citizen can vote) in Lok Sabha and state assembly elections (Art. 326).
• Posts: only a citizen can hold these offices.

Office	Article
President	58
Vice-President	66
Attorney General	76
Member of Parliament	84
Supreme Court judge	124
Governor	157
Advocate General	165
Member of a state legislature (MLA/MLC)	173
High Court judge	217

• Duties: the Fundamental Duties (Art. 51A) apply to citizens.

5. Aliens: friendly and enemy

• Friendly aliens are nationals of countries at peace with India. They still get some Fundamental Rights:
• Art. 14: equality before the law.
• Art. 20: protection in respect of conviction for offences.
• Art. 21: life and personal liberty.

• Art. 25: freedom of religion.

• Enemy alien means a national of a country at war with India.

• Art. 22(1)-(2) normally protect anyone arrested: they must be told the grounds of arrest, can consult a lawyer, and must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours.
• Art. 22(3) says these safeguards do not apply to an enemy alien.
• So an enemy alien has fewer protections than a friendly alien.

Prelims Hooks

• Arts. 5-9 came into force on 26 November 1949 under Art. 394, not on 26 January 1950.
• Art. 6 cut-off date: 19 July 1948. Migrants from Pakistan who came before it became citizens through residence. Those who came after it had to register after 6 months' residence.
• Art. 7 cut-off date: 1 March 1947. People who moved to Pakistan after this date are not citizens, unless they returned with a resettlement permit.
• Art. 11 gives Parliament full power over citizenship. List I entry 17 makes citizenship a Union subject. A state legislature cannot make laws on it.
• Trap: Art. 16(3) lets only Parliament, not a state, set residence conditions for public jobs.
• Rights only for citizens: Arts. 15, 16, 19, 29, 30. Arts. 14, 20, 21, 25 cover foreigners too.
• Art. 22(3) takes away the arrest safeguards of Art. 22(1)-(2) from enemy aliens.
• CAA 2019: the cut-off is 31 December 2014 and the naturalisation wait drops from 11 to 5 years. Sixth Schedule and Inner Line Permit areas are left out [6].
• CAA Rules 2024 (notified 11 March 2024): an Empowered Committee headed by the Director of Census Operations grants citizenship [7].
• Single citizenship came from Britain. Dual (federal plus state) citizenship is the US model.

Mains Points

• Single citizenship and national unity: a single citizenship and equal rights everywhere (Art. 19 movement and residence) bind a diverse federation together. But Art. 16(3), Art. 371D and the former Art. 35A show the Constitution also bends for regional needs. In 2019, Art. 35A was removed in favour of uniform rights.
• Part II as a Partition document: Arts. 5-8 dealt with mass migration through cut-off dates (1 March 1947, 19 July 1948) and residence and registration tests. Leaving the long-term rules to Parliament (Art. 11) kept the system flexible. The downside is that the core of citizenship can change by ordinary law, without a constitutional amendment.
• CAA 2019 debate: it is defended as help for persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries [6]. It is criticised for making religion a basis for classification, which raises questions under Art. 14, and for widening the executive's power over OCI cards [6]. Both are tested against NCERT's "democratic and inclusive" idea of citizenship. The north-eastern exemptions show the pull between protecting tribal identity and having uniform national rules [6].
• Rights of citizens and non-citizens: Arts. 14, 20, 21 and 25 extend basic protections to everyone in India, which reflects human rights for all. Political rights and high offices stay with citizens, which protects sovereignty. The bar on enemy aliens under Art. 22(3) shows how security limits liberty.