CITIZENSHIP IN INDIA (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – Polity)

Context: New Aadhaar cards and PDF versions of the identity document have started including a more explicit disclaimer that they are “a proof of identity, not of citizenship or date of birth”, signalling to government departments and other organisations not to use it for those purposes.

Citizenship in India

• Union List: Citizenship is listed in the Union List under the Constitution and thus is under the exclusive jurisdiction of Parliament.
• Constitutional articles: The Constitution of India in Article 5 to 11, only talks about who was a citizen till 26 January 1950.
• No definition of Citizen: The Constitution does not define the term ‘citizen’ but details of various categories of persons who are entitled to citizenship are given in Part 2 (Articles 5 to 11).
• Acquisition And Determination Of Indian Citizenship: There are methods of Acquiring Citizenship of India prescribed in the Citizenship Act, 1955, for becoming a citizen of India. They are:

oBy Birth

oBy Acquisition or Incorporation of Territory

oBy Descent

oBy Registration

oBy Naturalisation

• Loss of Citizenship: By Renunciation, By Termination, and By Deprivation