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RATIONALE BEHIND SINGLE CITIZENSHIP

  • May 20, 2021
  • Posted by: Admin
  • Category: others
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RATIONALE BEHIND SINGLE CITIZENSHIP
  • Indian Constitution is federal and envisages a dual polity (Centre and states), but it provides for only a single citizenship – the Indian citizenship.
  • The citizens in India owe allegiance only to the Union. There is no separate state citizenship (unlike USA which adopts dual citizenship)
  • In USA, each person is not only a citizen of USA but also of the particular state to which he belongs. Thus, he owes allegiance to both and enjoys dual sets of rights – national government and state government.
  • This system creates the problem of discrimination. A state may discriminate in favour of its citizens in matters like right to vote, right to hold public offices, right to practice professions etc.
  • Problem of discrimination avoided in the system of single citizenship of India.
  • In India, all citizens irrespective of the state in which they are born or reside enjoy the same political and civil rights of citizenship all over the country and no discrimination is made between them.
  • However, this general rule of absence of discrimination is subject to some following exceptions–
    1. The Parliament (under Art. 16) can prescribe residence within a state or UT as a condition for certain employments or appointments in that state or union territory, or local authority or other authority within that state or UT.
    2. The Constitution (under Art. 15) prohibits discrimination against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth only and not on the ground of residence. State can provide special benefits or give preference to its residents in matters that do not come within the purview of the rights given by the Constitution to the Indian citizens.
    3. The freedom of movement and residence (Art. 19) is subjected to the protection of interests of any schedule tribe. This is done to protect the distinctive culture, for any state except Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
    4. Prior 2019, the legislature of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was empowered to (based on 35-A):
    5. define the persons who are permanent residents of the state;
    6. confer any special rights and privileges on such permanent residents as respects:
  • employment under the state government;
  • acquisition of immovable property in the state;
  • settlement in the state; and
  • right to scholarships and such other forms of aid provided by the government.
  • In 2019, this special status was abolished by a new presidential order known as “The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019”. This order superseded the earlier 1954 order.
  • Despite this, India has been witnessing the communal riots, class conflicts, caste wars, linguistic clashes and ethnic disputes.
  • The cherished goal of the founding fathers and the Constitution-makers to build an united and integrated Indian nation has not been fully realised.

 

RATIONALE BEHIND SINGLE CITIZENSHIP
  • The Diaspora encompasses a group of people who can either trace their origins to India or who are Indian citizens living abroad, either temporarily or permanently.
  • It includes Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI).
  • PIO and OCI card holders were merged under OCI category in 2015.
  • Indian example of large scale migration began during the British rule as indentured labourers to former colonies like Fiji, Kenya and Malaysia, known as Girmitiya people.
  • Today the Indian diaspora numbers over 20 million, reflecting the full multiplicity, variety of the rich social, ethnic and cultural tapestry of the land of its origin.

 

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