To enjoy fundamental rights and various other facilities, a person needs to be the citizen of the country. Every country is having their own provision for citizenship. In some, single citizenship is mandatory and in others dual citizenship is permitted. When we delve into the matter we will see the population of the state is divided into citizens and aliens. Here aliens are not a superficial creature of another planet. But they are the one who aren’t citizens of the country. So, who is the citizen of India?
There are four points under which a person is considered as a citizen of India at the commencement of the Constitution i.e Jan 26, 1950 –
- Citizenship by domicile (Article 5 of Constitution of India)
- Citizenship of emigrants from Pakistan ( Article 6)
- Citizenship of migrants to Pakistan (Article 7)
- Citizenship of Indians abroad (Article 8)
The Constitution of India guarantees the right mentioned under Article 14 and 21 to the Aliens. Article 14 talks about Equality before law and Article 21 of Constitution of India talks about Protection of life and personal liberty.
Rest are available only to citizens such as –
- Article 15 of Constitution of India gives right not to be discriminated on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
- Article 16 of Constitution of India providing right to equality and opportunity in matter of public employment and no discrimination on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place off birth, residence.
- Article 19 protects the right regarding freedom of speech and expression.
- Article 29 talks about protection of interest of minors
- Article 30 of Constitution of India gives right to minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
- Apart from this, there are certain designations which can be occupied by Citizens only such as President, Vice president, Judges of the Supreme Court or High Court, Governor of State, Attorney General and Advocate general of a State.
- Along with this, the right to vote and become members of the State and Union legislation is available only to citizens.
