Saturday, 22 August 2015

Constitution Part II

Constitution Part II has the following articles: Article 5. Citizenship at the commencement of the

Constitution. Article 6. Rights of citizenship of certain persons who have migrated to India from Pakistan.

Article 7. Rights of citizenship of certain migrants to Pakistan. Article 8. Rights of citizenship of certain

persons of Indian origin residing outside India. Article 9. Persons voluntarily acquiring citizenship of a

foreign State not to be citizens. Article 10. Continuance of the rights of citizenship. Article 11. Parliament

to regulate the right of citizenship by law. The dictionary meaning of a citizen is a native or naturalized

member of a state or other political community. The citizenship is a state of being a citizen of a

particular social, political, or national community. The major issues in Constituent assembly on

citizenship For the constitution assembly, to arrive at a final draft for Citizenship was one of the most

arduous tasks while framing the constitution. The problem was partition of India on one hand and India

being recreated by uniting the princely states on the other. India’s partition into India and Pakistan

caused millions of people cross the border. The Hindus and Sikhs who were born in Pakistan side came

to India and Muslims who were born in India migrated to Pakistan. Apart from that, there were people

who had left their homeland India and started living abroad and now wanted to come back as the

country was a free nation. The assembly created and destroyed many drafts regarding the citizenship

and even the final draft was amended for more than 100 times before it was finally incorporated in the

Constitution as Part II. The problem of citizenship was basically as follows: The people who were born

and living in Pakistan and migrated to India were to be provided Indian Citizenship. The people who

were born and living in India and migrated to Pakistan were to be excluded and debarred from Indian

Citizenship. People who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 but returned back to live in India permanently had

to be provided Citizenship. The people who were born in India, but living abroad but came back, had to

be provided citizenship. Article 5 : Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution. At the

commencement of this Constitution, every person who has his domicile in the territory of India and-

who was born in the territory of India; or either of whose parents was born in the territory of India; or

who has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years immediately

preceding such commencement, shall be a citizen of India. Article5 refers to the Citizenship on January

26, 1950. This article provided that the ordinary resident in the territory of India since or before January

26, 1945 were deemed to be Indian Citizens. But what about the people who came from Pakistan after

1947 partition? This is clarified in Article 6. Article 6 : Rights of citizenship of certain persons who have

migrated to India from Pakistan. Article 6. Rights of citizenship of certain persons who have migrated to

India from Pakistan. Notwithstanding anything in article 5, a person who has migrated to the territory of

India from the territory now included in Pakistan shall be deemed to be a citizen of India at the

commencement of this Constitution if- he or either of his parents or any of his grand-parents was born

in India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935 (as originally enacted); and (i) in the case where

such person has so migrated before the nineteenth day of July, 1948, he has been ordinarily resident in

the territory of India since the date of his migration, or (ii) in the case where such person has so

migrated on or after the nineteenth day of July, 1948, he has been registered as a citizen of India by an

officer appointed in that behalf by the Government of the Dominion of India on an application made by

him there for to such officer before the commencement of this Constitution in the form and manner

prescribed by that Government: Provided that no person shall be so registered unless he has been

resident in the territory of India for at least six months immediately preceding the date of his

application. Article 6 deals with those persons who migrated to India from Pakistan. India as defined in

the Government of India Act, 1935 means undivided India. These persons were divided into two

categories. Category 1: Those who came before July 19, 1948 Category 2: Those who came after July 19,

1948 Those who came from Pakistan to India before July 19, 1948 would automatically become Indian

Citizens. Those who came after July 19, 1948 would become Indian Citizens provided they had been

registered in the form and manner as prescribed by the Government of India. Article 7: Rights of

citizenship of certain migrants to Pakistan Article 7: Rights of citizenship of certain migrants to Pakistan.

Notwithstanding anything in articles 5 and 6, a person who has after the first day of March, 1947,

migrated from the territory of India to the territory now included in Pakistan shall not be deemed to be

a citizen of India: Provided that nothing in this article shall apply to a person who, after having so

migrated to the territory now included in Pakistan, has returned to the territory of India under a permit

for resettlement or permanent return issued by or under the authority of any law and every such person

shall for the purposes of clause (b) of article 6 be deemed to have migrated to the territory of India after

the nineteenth day of July, 1948. Article 7 deals with those persons who had migrated to Pakistan but

returned to India from Pakistan with intention to live here permanently. Please note that this article

deals with the “permit system”. The permit system was introduced in July 19, 1948. This system

provided that a person who is desiring to return back to India with an intention to permanently reside

was required to get a separate permit. Article 8: Rights of citizenship of certain persons of Indian origin

residing outside India Article 8: Rights of citizenship of certain persons of Indian origin residing outside

India. Notwithstanding anything in article 5, any person who or either of whose parents or any of whose

grand-parents was born in India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935 (as originally enacted),

and who is ordinarily residing in any country outside India as so defined shall be deemed to be a citizen

of India if he has been registered as a citizen of India by the diplomatic or consular representative of

India in the country where he is for the time being residing on an application made by him therefor to

such diplomatic or consular representative, whether before or after the commencement of this

Constitution, in the form and manner prescribed by the Government of the Dominion of India or the

Government of India. Article 8 deals with those persons who were living abroad. The article provides

that any person who was born or his parents /grandparents were born in undivided India but living

abroad and wants to return to India would need to be registered at the as Citizen of India by the

diplomatic or consular representative of India in that country. Article 9: Persons voluntarily acquiring

citizenship of a foreign State not to be citizens Article 9: Persons voluntarily acquiring citizenship of a

foreign State not to be citizens. 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. Under article 9 of the constitution, any person who has voluntarily acquired the

citizenship of a foreign country, even if qualified for Indian Citizenship under any of the provisions of the

constitution will not be a Citizen of India. Plenary Power to parliament: Article 10 & 11 Article 10:

Continuance of the rights of citizenship. Every person who is or is deemed to be a citizen of India under

any of the foregoing provisions of this Part shall, subject to the provisions of any law that may be made

by Parliament, continue to be such citizen. Article 11: Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by

law. Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Part shall derogate from the power of Parliament to

make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination of citizenship and all other matters

relating to citizenship. The nature of provisions from Article 5 to 9 show that the objective of the

constituent assembly was not to make a permanent law for citizenship. Ours is a Republic Country and

various offices are to be occupied by the persons who are elected by the citizens. So, keeping this in

view, it was necessary for the Constituent Assembly to make some provisions which could precisely

determine that who is a Citizen of Independent Indian Dominion and who is not, at the time of the

commencement of the constitution. Further, the constituent also gave plenary power to the parliament

of India to deal with the question of nationality. Article 10 and more precisely Article 11 give the power

to the parliament to make law in this connection as and when it suits to the demands of the

circumstances. The power in parliament vested by Article 11 embraced not only acquisition but also the

termination or any other matter related to Citizenship. Using the power vested in parliament by Article

11 of the Constitution of India, a comprehensive law “The Citizenship Act, 1955″ was passed by the

parliament. This act has been amended from time to time to make space for provisions as and when

required

source : gktoday.in

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