CITIZENSHIP

CITIZENSHIPCitizenship by birth. Any person born in India on or after 26 January 1950, but prior to the commencement of the 1986 Act on 1 July 1987, is a citizen of India by birth. A person born in India on or after 1 July 1987 is a citizen of India if either parent was a citizen of India at the time of the birth.Citizenship by descent(1) A person born outside India,-(a) on or after the 26th January, 1950, but before the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1992, shall be a citizen of India by descent if his father is a citizen of India at the time of his birth; or(b) on after such commencement, shall be a citizen of India by descent if either of his parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth:]PROVIDED that if the father of such a person ³[referred to clause (a)] was a citizen of India by descent only, that person shall not be a citizen of India by virtue of this section unless-
(a) his birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year of its occurrence or the commencement of this Act, whichever is later, or, with the permission of the Central Government, after the expiry of the said period; or(b) his father is, at the time of his birth, in service under a Government in India:³[PROVIDED FURTHER that if either of the parents of such a person referred to in clause (b) was a citizen of India by descent only, that person shall not be a citizen of India by virtue of this section, unless-
(a) his birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year of its occurrence or the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1992, whichever is later, or with the permission of the Central Government, after the expiry of the said period; or(b) either of his parents is, at the time of his birth, in service under a Government in India.(2) If the Central Government so directs, a birth shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been registered with its permission, notwithstanding that its permission was not obtained before the registration.(3) For the purposes of the proviso to sub-section (1), ⁴[any person] born outside undivided India who was, or was deemed to be, a citizen of India at the commencement of the Constitution shall be deemed to be a citizen of India by descent only.

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Article 5-8 conferred citizenship on each person who met the criteria below at the commencement of the Constitution

• Domiciled in India and born in India

• domiciled not born in India but either of whose parents was born in India

• domiciled, not born in India but ordinarily resident for more than five years

• resident in India but migrated to Pakistan after 1 March 1947 and later returned to India on resettlement permit

• resident in Pakistan but who migrated to India after 19 July 1948 or who came after that date but had resided for more than six months and got registered in prescribed manner

• resident outside India but who or either of whose parents or grand parents were born in India

Thus, Citizenship at the commencement of the constitution included provisions for Citizenship-by domicile, of migrants from Pakistan and of Indians residing in foreign countries.

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Domicile
 of a person is his permanent home. No person can be without a domicile and no person may have more than one operative domicile. National boundaries do not constitute a hindrance in one’s choice of domicile. This implies that a person may be national of one country, but his/her domicile may be another country. Domicile denotes the connection of a person with a territorial system of law.In fact, citizenship is denoted by domicile and not vice-versa. The latter is distinguishable from citizenship inasmuch as it is vitally connected with territory and not membership of the community which is at the root of the notion of citizenship.
There is only one citizenship, which is of the Union of India, there is no separate state Citizenship as in the United States of America.

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Indian Citizenship Act 1955

The Citizenship Act, 1955 that came into force with effect from 30th December 1955 deals with matters relating to the acquisition, determination and termination of Indian citizenship. It provides for the acquisition of Indian citizenship by birth, by descent, by registration and by naturalization^[. The act has been amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1986, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1992, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2003, and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005.

The Original Act provided 

• a person born in India after 26 January 1950 would, subject to certain exceptions be a citizen of India by Birth
• anyone born outside India after 26 January 1950, subject to certain requirements, would be a citizen of India if his/her father was an Indian citizen at the time of his/her birth
• under certain conditions, certain category of persons could acquire Indian citizenship by registration in prescribed manner
• foreigners could acquire Indian citizenship on application for naturalization on certain conditions
• if any territory became part of India, the Government of India could by order specify the persons who would become citizens of India as a result thereof
• citizenship could be lost by termination, renunciation or deprivation on certain grounds
• a citizen of commonwealth country would have the status of commonwealth citizen of India. Government could make suitable provisions on the basis of reciprocity.