Zeeshan Hasan

B.A.LLB [1st Semester]Regular

Political Science-I

Roll No-58

Citizenship

Citizenship in Light of NRC

Introduction
Nowadays Citizenship has become the center of attention in political theory. It is
the most privileged form of nationality. The concept of citizenship first arose in the town
and the city-states of ancient Greece. For understanding citizenship we must know the
meaning of the term ‘citizen’. The term ‘citizen’ can be understand in two senses i.e narrow
sense and a broad sense. In narrow sense, it means the resident of a city or one who enjoys
the privilege of living in a city. While in broad sense it means a person who resides within
the territorial limit of the state. Citizen is a legal statue of a state who is empower with the
sets of right and obligation towards state. State grant protection and secure the right of
individual in a political community. Each one of us is a citizen of a state. We have either
inherited the citizenship of our state by our parents or has acquired by place of birth or has
acquired specially by fulfilling the terms and condition of a state. As a result citizenship
deals with the representation between the individual and the state.1

In India full civil and political rights are enjoyed by citizens. There are certain
fundamental rights which are only applicable to the Citizens of India. An Indian citizens

1
Andrew Heywood, Political Theory An Introduction 204 (Palgrave Macmilllan, New York, 3rd edn., 2004).
has right not to be differentiated by any other citizen on the view of religion, race, caste,
sex or place of birth. The most fundamental right of citizenship is the right to live and work
in a country, which ‘aliens’ or ‘foreign citizens’ may or may not be permitted to do.

The matter of citizenship was broadly discussed at the time of making of Indian
Constitution. The constitution maker accepted the willingness and unwillingness of all the
people regarding their stay in India. In India dual citizenship is strictly not provided. There
is only single citizenship i.e “Indian Citizenship”. The Indian constitution does not define
the Citizenship. It just describes the classes of person who automatically become the
Citizens of India at the time of making the Constitution. Indian parliament has an authority
to make Law on Citizenship.2

In India citizenship can be obtained by various ways like citizenship by Birth,

citizenship by migration, citizenship by domicile, citizenship by registration, citizenship
by marriage or being son/daughter of a parents of Indian Origin. Citizens may also be
allowed to vote in election, stand for election and can enter in certain occupations like
administration, military, state service, etc.3

Citizenship under Indian Constitution

The concept of citizenship is very important. Citizenship law in India is governed by the
Citizenship Act 1955 and The Constitution of India. The Part-II of the Constitution of India
from Article-5 to Article -11 deals with the Citizenship of India and few ways of acquiring
it.

Article-5 of The Constitution of India says that

It provides: “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

(a) who was born in the territory of India; or

2
Dual Citizenship Indian Diaspora available at: http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdfchapter36.pdf
(Last visited on Oct 20, 2018)
3
M.P Jain, Indian Constitutional Law 860 (LexisNexis, Buttersworths Wadhwa 2011).
(b) either of whose parents was born in territory of India; or

(c) who has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years
preceding such commencement, shall be a citizen of India.”

The term ‘domicile’ has not been defined in the Indian Constitution. The place
where a person’s live permanently without having any intention of changing their home is
known as domicile. Every person is having domicile by his place of birth only known as
domicile by its origin.
National Register of Citizen (NRC)

The National Register of Citizen (NRC) is a register containing names of Indian

Citizens who are residing in Assam. In was prepared in 1951. It is being updated to weed
out illegal immigration from Bangladesh and neighboring region. The process of NRC
update was taken up in Assam as per the order of Supreme Court of India in 2013. In order
to wean out cases of illegal migrations from Bangladesh and other adjoining areas. NRC
updation was carried out under The Citizenship Act 1955 and according to the rules framed
Assam Accord which was a Memorandum of Settlements (MoS) signed in 1985 between
The Government of India and leaders of Assam Movement. As per the direction of
Government of India, the document of NRC was kept in the offices of Deputy
Commissioners and Sub Divisional Officers and was later transferred to the custody of
Police department in early 1960.The updating of NRC will establish the citizenship rights
of all Indian citizens. This process has commenced in Assam since May, 2015.

The first draft of National Register of Citizen (NRC) was published on 1st January
2018 which contain 1.9 crore names from a total of 3.29 crore who were applied through
68.31 lakhs applications. The process of verification involved house-to-house field
verification by seeing the authenticity of the documents.

The final draft was released on 30th July 2018 Monday and however found 2.89
crore people eligible in the complete Draft while 40.07 lakhs applicants have been left out.
The decision of eligibilities of few categories of person are being kept on hold including
the D- voters (doubtful voters who have been disenfranchised on account of failure to prove
citizenship).4

4
National Register of Citizen (NRC) Assam, India, available at: http://republicworld.com (Last Visited Oct
25, 2018).
 While the announcement of second list Shri Shailesh, Registrar General of India
said:-

“It is a draft NRC, not the final NRC. There may be objection

into draft NRC. People will get ample opportunity to file claims

and objections”

Persons who do not find their names in complete draft NRC have the legal right to
again filling of claim during the period 30th August to 28th September 2018.Starting from
7th Aug 2018, they will be able to know the reason for non-inclusion by visiting the NSK
and enquiring from the Local Registrar. There is also provision for filing of objection
against any ineligible entry. Corrections if any would be made in the spelling of names or
any other particulars. All opportunity will be given to all claimants to establish their
eligibility. Only after disposal of claims and Objections will the final NRC be published.
Any person who is not satisfied with the outcome of the claims and objections can file
appeal before the Foreigners Tribunals.5

On 1 November 2018 Thursday Supreme Court extended the deadline date for
filing claims and objections of people whose name are not inclined in the final draft
National Register of Citizens (NRC) to December 15 and also allowed the calming
applicants for adding of a five additional documents besides the 10 earlier permitted one
which were objected by NRC coordination Subject to “rigorous verification”.

The earlier 10 documents which were included are:-

 Land Documents,

 Permanent residential certificate issued from outside the state.

 Passport

 Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) insurance policy.

5
What is National Register of Citizen (NRC) of Assam, India, available at: http://livemint.com (Last
Modified Jul 30, 2018).
  Any license or certificate issued by any government of Public sector undertaking.

 Bank or post office account.

 Birth certificates issued by the competent authority.

 Educational certificate issued by Boards or Universities.

 Any records or process pertaining to court.

 Provided they are part of a processing in a judicial or revenue court.6

Former Assam Chief Minister and Congress Leader Shri Tarun Gogoi said in reference of

NRC:-

“ I’m both happy and sad. Happy that it was my brainchild but

said that many genius Indian have been left out. I am not

politicizing the issue I’m raising concern for these 40 lakh people.

It’s my job as a politician to raise it”

Opportunities of Updating the NRC in Assam

The updating of NRC will lead to the identification of illegal migrants and the resources of
the indigenous Assamese people.
 It will be possible for the state and center government to carry out targeted Public
Distribution of basic necessities and amenities to the deserving.
 A huge chunk of vote bank, especially Muslims from Bangladesh, will become
invalid. This will help the ruling BJP government, to appease the existing Assamese
voters by meeting their aspirations and also nullifying the negative Muslim votes.
 Implementation of a number of very ambitious development projects in Assam and
other North East states that are in the pipeline will need workforce. Providing work-

6
Express Web Desk, ”Assam NRC” The Indian Express, November 1, 2018.
 permits to these illegal migrants can assure a readily available unskilled workforce at
cheaper rates.
 Assam will become violence-free as the question of illegal migrants would be
resolved and work for development of the State can commence unhindered and
without any fear of disruption.

Challenges of Updating the NRC in Assam

 The errors in exclusion and inclusion while the NRC is being updated owing to doubts
over the credibility of 1951 census and the difficulties involved in proving an
indigenous citizen could cause injustice to many people.
 The exercise is likely to result in a major upheaval and cause severe inconvenience
to common people.
 Bangladesh is already struggling to accommodate a colossal influx of Rohingya
Muslims from Myanmar; it is unlikely to accept any more illegal migrants from India.
 India’s image in international arena could be tarnished as the status of these citizens
would remain unsettled.
 There are already six detention center’s for the D-Voters (Dubious Voters) in Assam
located at Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Tezpur. It will become
a massive exercise for administration to accommodate a large number of illegal
migrants after the NRC has been updated.