Constitutional Provisions

India, as a sovereign nation awards citizenship to individuals whom it recognises as legal citizens of India. The terms and conditions for citizenship have been specified by the Indian Constitution. The first citizenship law was a part of the initial document of the Constitution as Articles 5 and 6. The laws have been periodically revised to alter the terms for Indian citizenship with Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.

The citizenship of India can also be acquired through registration and due process if the candidate fulfils all the required conditions. 

What is Citizenship of India?

India, akin to every other nation, recognises two kinds of individuals-citizens and aliens. Citizens are individuals who are legally a part of the country and enjoy all the fundamental rights as per the Indian Constitution. Indian citizenship can be acquired via due process. Special articles from the Indian Constitution have been dedicated towards the recognition of citizens and the criteria for citizenship grant.

History of Indian Citizenship Laws

Against the backdrop of the Indian partition, the country witnessed a huge inflow of refugees. After independence, the country was divided in two based on religious differences. The partition of India resulted in the disruption of communal harmony and numerous incidents of violent riots in which millions perished. The partition of India also resulted in millions of refugees fleeing their homeland. 

India witnessed two waves of refugee inflow after the partition. The first wave was of those people, who belonged to religious minorities (Hindus and Sikhs) in Muslim-dominated Pakistan. The second wave consisted of the Indian Muslims who had initially migrated to Pakistan but were now returning due to poor living conditions there. The housing of people, particularly the inhabitants of the second wave was a major problem since the houses of those who had migrated were used to house refugees of the first wave. It was imprudent for the Indian government to come up with an organised system to tackle the issue. It was essential to differentiate citizens from aliens in this case so that the citizens could be provided with food and shelter and also empowered with rights mentioned in the Constitution.

Hence, the Indian government issued a permit system, which disallowed any individual from crossing the border into Indian territory from West Pakistan without a permit issued by Indian High Commission in Karachi or Lahore. Among these permits, a “permanent resettlement permit” for the Muslims who had initially migrated to Pakistan, was incredibly difficult to obtain.

Later in Constitutional Assembly debates, a proper blueprint was made for citizenship criteria in the form of citizenship laws. The very first citizenship law was mentioned in Articles 5 and 6 of the Indian Constitution, among which Article 5 describes “citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution”. These laws had formed the initial Citizenship Act of 1955, which has been amended a total of 6 times up till the present timeline (most recently in the year 2019).

Article 5: Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution

The initial draft of the Constitution had certain provisions for the individuals to be considered for Indian citizenship at its commencement. According to the provisions, any individual who fulfils the following criteria points is eligible for Indian citizenship/is an Indian citizen:

• He/she was born in the territory of India.
• Either of his/her parents was born in India.
• He/she has been an ordinary resident in the territory of India for at least five years.

Any individual fulfilling the above criteria shall be considered a citizen of the sovereign state of India with immediate effect.

The citizenship of India can be acquired through four routes; citizenship by birth, citizenship by descent, citizenship by naturalisation and Citizenship by Registration. 

Citizenship by Descent 

As mentioned above, any person looking to seek Indian citizenship can do so if he has Indian descent. The act states that any person who was born outside the country is eligible for Indian citizenship if both parents or either one of them is an Indian citizen. The parents should not be illegal migrants. This step is essentially important for children who are born overseas. The birth should be registered at the Ministry of Housing Affairs within one year of their birth. 

Citizenship by Naturalisation

The citizenship of India is open to any foreign person as he/she will be naturally considered a citizen of India if he/she has spent over 12 years in the country and completely fulfils the requirements mentioned in the third schedule of the Indian Citizenship Act. the major requirement is that the person should not be an illegal migrant. 

Citizenship by Birth

Citizenship by birth is given to the people born in the country on or before 26th January 1950 and before 1st July 1987 irrespective of the parent’s nationality. However, the people born after 1st July 1987 and before 3rd December 2004  are considered a citizen by birth only if either of the parents is a citizen of India at the time of the birth. The people born after 3rd December 2004 are considered citizens of India by birth only both the parents are citizens of India at the time of the birth and are not illegal migrants.

Conclusion

The citizenship act of India states that Indian citizenship can be acquired through four routes; by birth, by descent, by registration or by naturalisation. The citizenship act has been amended only six times to date, the recent amendment being in 2019.