Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law

Citizenship is a matter of great pride for the people of the country. In India, it is even more so. Historically, the country has been invaded and ruled over by foreigners. So when it finally gained independence and adopted its Constitution, it put it under the powers of the Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law. This was done to ensure that the citizenship of the country was valued and not abused. In the following lines, we delve into this conversation in detail.

Being a citizen of India:

There were loopholes in laws that related to being an Indian citizen and holding the citizenship of the country. But those loopholes were mended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1986. It changed the considerations that were required by any foreign resident or Indian resident to become eligible for Indian citizenship. 

It solved a lot of problems for India as it has faced huge issues regarding illegal migration. On top of that, there was also the additional threat that India faced from foreign spies embedding themselves in the nation.

It was amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1986. The amendment brought around the additions that had to be made to the process of acquiring Indian citizenship. It increased the number of years that a person had to reside in the country to become eligible for citizenship.

Sadly, this only proved to be half the measure that was required. The amendment to the Constitution was able to save the abuse of Indian citizenship, but there rapidly emerged a second problem. And this problem was about many Indians who were taking up the citizenships of different foreign nations.

What does Article 9 of the Indian Constitution say?

To deal with this problem, the legislation dealing with citizenship needed to be more stringent. And that is why it was, once again, up to the Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law. And this is exactly why Article 9 of the Indian Constitution becomes important.

When you go through the legislation dealing with citizenship, you will find Article 9. It says that:

“No person shall be a citizen of India by virtue of article 5, or be deemed to be a citizen of India by virtue of article 6 or article 8 if he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign State.” 

It has been done to preserve the integrity of the citizenship of the country. It is tools like this that are used by the Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law. Under this article, you cannot take up the citizenship of a foreign country and still hold your Indian citizenship.

When the people of India look up to the Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law, they expect it to function in a way that upholds the integrity of the nation. If at any point, you choose to take up the citizenship of another country, you immediately cease to be an Indian citizen.

Implications of Article 9:

Article 9 of the Indian Constitution has far-reaching implications. It has prevented the misuse of the citizenship of India. Simultaneously, it has also helped the country gain an accurate knowledge of the number of people that choose to voluntarily leave the nation for foreign citizenship. 

It is vested in the powers of the Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law. And by knowing the people who have left the citizenship of the nation, it can stop extending the benefits of citizenship to them. This knowledge is important because the government plans for many welfare measures for the people of its nation.

By not extending the benefits of citizenship to them, the government of the nation has managed to save precious economic and social resources. These resources can be extended towards the people of the country to make their life better.

It was also argued that India should be selective in this approach and should only extend its dual-citizenship approach towards the nations that were willing to do the same for India. But this view was ultimately turned down in favour of the single-citizenship policy of the nation.

These measures have made our nation a better place with better planned economic and social measures. In the little time that we have had since our independence, we have managed to achieve a lot in it. We have managed to define and categorize many of our rights for becoming a better nation.

Conclusion:

The call for the Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law is something that was needed. As a nation, we have to preserve our integrity. We have to become more and more focused on the vision of the future that we have for ourselves. It is only through a relentless pursuit of those ideals that we will manage to march forth into a future that was envisioned for us by our forefathers. We become a better nation through legislation.