Article 8 And Citizenship By Birth

The population of a country is divided into two parts: citizens and non-citizens. A citizen of India enjoys rights like civil and political rights, but on the other hand, non-citizens do not enjoy such rights. Under the constitution of India, there are certain rights, such as fundamental rights, that are only available to the citizens of India. To avail of such rights, a person has to become a citizen of India. There are different kinds of citizenship in India. One of them is citizenship by birth. Under this, if a person is born in India on or after December 3 2004. He/she will become a citizen of India by birth if both the parents are a citizen or if any one of the parents is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant.

Part II of the Constitution of India

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of the State, and it governs the function of the State. The document has laid down the framework of the political code and how various institutions should work. Constitution of India consists of a Preamble, 470 articles that are grouped into 25 parts. Part II of the constitution deals with citizenship of India, such as citizenship by birth. It consists of articles from 5 to11. These articles define the term citizenship and deal with different kinds of citizenship. 

There are no permanent provisions in the constitution concerning the citizenship of India. The articles describe the various categories of persons who are part of the State, such as citizenship by birth, citizenship by descent, registration, etc.

Article 5 of the constitution of India deals with citizenship by domicile. Article 6 talks about the people’s citizenship that migrated from Pakistan to India. Article 6 further classifies such people into two categories they are-

• People who came to India before July 19, 1948
• People who migrated to India after July 19, 1948

Article 7 deals with a citizen of India who migrates to Pakistan after March 1, 1947, but later they came to India for resettlement.

Article 8 deals with the citizenship of people who have Indian Origin but they reside overseas.

For the acquisition of Indian citizenship, there is the Indian citizenship Act, 1955. It governs the acquisition of Indian citizenship. As per the provisions of the act, there are five ways in which a person can acquire or get citizenship in India. They are-

• Citizenship by birth- As per this provision, a person who is born in India on January 1, 1950, or after it, the person is deemed to be a citizen of India by birth. It was further amended to include persons who were born between January 1 1950, and July 1 1987. After the further amendment to this act in 2003, a person born after December 3 2004, would deem to be a citizen of India if one of the parents is Indian and the other is not an illegal migrant.

• Citizenship by descent- As per this provision, a person who is born outside India is a citizen of India if either of the person’s parents was the citizen of India at the time of the birth of the person. The birth should be registered within one year of the commencement of the act or with the year of the birth. Whichever situation is later at the consulate of India.

• Citizenship by registration-You can register yourself as a citizen of India. If you get married to a person who is also a citizen of India or he/she has been a resident of India for more than five years. This is citizenship by registration.
• Citizenship by naturalization- you get a certificate of naturalization if you are not an illegal migrant and have stayed in India for more than 12 months before you make an application for such certificate.
• Citizenship by incorporation of a territory- under this, if any new territory becomes the part of the State, the government has to specify the persons of such territory to be citizens of India.

Conclusion

With the help of the above findings, we can conclude that the citizenship of India plays a crucial part in the governance of the State, and each kind of citizenship, such as citizenship by birth, has multiple significance as many people reside outside India but still wish to retain their rights. It is for this reason that Article 8 of the Constitution of India talks about the rights of citizenship of various persons of Indian Origin that reside overseas.