Citizenship: Part II (Article 5-11)

Table of Contents

Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under law as being a legal member of a sovereign state or belonging to a nation. Article 5 to 11 deals with the Citizenship of India.

The term citizenship means the enjoyment of full membership of any State in which a citizen has civil and political rights. Before incorporating the final draft of citizenship in the Constitution as Part II, it was amended over 100 times.

After independence India had to deal with certain problems to provide citizenship are as follows –

The people who were born and living in the territory enclosed in Pakistan and migrated to India were to be provided Indian Citizenship.
The people who migrated to Pakistan but were born in India were to be excluded and debarred from Indian Citizenship.
People who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 but returned back to live in the Indian territory permanently had to be provided with Citizenship.
People who were living abroad but were born in India had to be provided with Indian citizenship.

Articles On Citizenship

Article 5: Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution

This article talks about citizenship for people at the commencement of the Constitution, i.e. 26th January 1950. Under this, citizenship is conferred upon those persons who have their domicile(intention to live permanently) in Indian territory and –

Who was born in Indian territory; or
Whose either parent was born in Indian territory; or
Who has ordinarily been a resident of India for not less than 5 years immediately before the commencement of the Constitution.

Note: Domicile of a person is in that country in which the person either has or is deemed by law to have his/her permanent house.

Article 6: It provided rights of citizenship of certain persons who have migrated to India from Pakistan.

Since Independence was preceded by Partition and there was a huge migration, Article 6 laid down that anyone who migrated to India before 19-07-1948, would automatically become an Indian citizen;

if he/either of his parents/any of his grandparents were born in India.
and he should have resided in India since the date of his migration.

But for people who migrated to India on or after 19-07-1948, if;

he/either of his parents/any of his grandparents were born in India.
He returned to India under a permit for permanent resettlement.
and should be registered as a citizen of India by an officer appointed by the Government of India but for registration, that person has to be resided in the territory of India for a minimum of 6 months, before he give application for resettlement.

Note: Permit system was introduced on 19-07-1948 to allow the people who moved for permanent resettlement or live in India.

Article 7: Rights of Citizenship of Certain Migrants to Pakistan

If a citizen of India has migrated to Pakistan after March 1, 1947, he shall not be considered as indian citizen but, the person is entitled to become a citizen of India if;

if he returned to India under a permit for permanent resettlement.
he/either of his parents/any of his grandparents were born in India.
He registers himself as a citizen of India, after residing for at least 6 months immediately before the date of applying for registration, by an officer appointed by the government of India.

Article 8: Rights of Citizenship of Certain Persons of Indian Origin Residing Outside India

This article deals with the citizenship rights of people of Indian origin residing outside India for purposes of employment, marriage, and education etc. who are residing ordinarily in any country outside India shall be considered to be a citizen of India.

if he or either of his parents or grandparents were born in undivided India. and
They are registered as a citizen of India by the diplomatic or consular representative of India in the country where they are residing.

Article 9: Persons Voluntarily Acquiring Citizenship of a Foreign State not to be Citizens of India

According to article 9, any person who voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign country before the commencement of the Constitution of India cannot demand for Indian citizenship under article 5,6 and 8.

Article 10: Continuance of the Rights of Citizenship

Any person who is considered a citizen of India under any of the provisions of this Part II, shall continue to be citizen of India and will also be subject to any law made by the Parliament.

Article 11: Parliament to Regulate the Right of Citizenship by Law

This article empowers Parliament to make any provision/law with respect to the acquisition and termination of citizenship and all matters relating to it.