Loss of Citizenship

The Citizenship Act (1955) prescribes three ways of losing citizenship whether acquired under the Act or prior to it under the Constitution, viz, renunciation, termination and deprivation:

1. By Renunciation

Any citizen of India of full age and capacity can make a declaration renouncing his Indian citizenship. Upon the registration of that declaration, that person ceases to be a citizen of India. However, if such a declaration is made during a war in which India is engaged, its registration shall be withheld by the Central Government.

Further, when a person renounces his Indian citizenship, every minor child of that person also loses Indian citizenship. However, when such a child attains the age of eighteen, he may resume Indian citizenship.

2. By Termination

When an Indian citizen voluntarily (consciously, knowingly and without duress, undue influence or compulsion) acquires the citizenship of another country, his Indian citizenship automatically terminates. This provision, however, does not apply during a war in which India is engaged.

3. By Deprivation

It is a compulsory termination of Indian citizenship by the Central government, if:

(a) the citizen has obtained the citizenship by fraud:

(b) the citizen has shown disloyalty to the Constitution of India:

(c) the citizen has unlawfully traded or communicated with the enemy during a war;

(d) the citizen has, within five years after registration or naturalisation, been imprisoned in any country for two years; and

(e) the citizen has been ordinarily resident out of India for seven years continuously.4

Though the Indian Constitution is federal and envisages a dual polity (Centre and states), it provides for only a single citizenship, that is, the Indian citizenship. The citizens in India owe allegiance only to the Union. There is no separate state citizenship. The other federal states like USA and Switzerland, on the other hand, adopted the system of double 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-one set conferred by the national government and another by the state government. This system creates the problem of discrimination, that is, a state may discriminate in favour of its citizens in matters like right to vote, right to hold public offices, right to practice professions and so on. This problem is avoided in the system of single citizenship prevalent in 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 exceptions, viz,

1. The Parliament (under Article 16) can prescribe residence within a state or union territory as a condition for certain employments or appointments in that state or union territory, or local authority or other authority within that state or union territory. Accordingly, the Parliament enacted the Public Employment (Requirement as to Residence) Act, 1957, and thereby authorised the Government of India to prescribe residential qualification only for appointment to non-Gazetted posts in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura. As this Act expired in 1974, there is no such provision for any state except Andhra Pradesh5 and Telangana5a.‌

2. The Constitution (under Article 15) prohibits discrimination against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and not on the ground of residence. This means that the 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. For example, a state may offer concession in fees for education to its residents.

3. The freedom of movement and residence (under Article 19) is subjected to the protection of interests of any schedule tribe. In other words, the right of outsiders to enter, reside and settle in tribal areas is restricted. Of course, this is done to protect the distinctive culture,

language, customs and manners of schedule tribes and to safeguard their traditional vocation and property against exploitation.

4. Till 2019, the legislature of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was empowered to:

(a) define the persons who are permanent residents of the state; and

(b) confer any special rights and privileges on such permanent residents as respects:

(i) employment under the state government;

(ii) acquisition of immovable property in the state;

(iii) settlement in the state; and

(iv) right to scholarships and such other forms of aid provided by t government.

The above provision was based on Article 35-A of the Constitution of India. This Article was inserted in the constitution by "The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954”. This order was issued by the President under Article 370 of the Constitution which had provided a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. 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.

The Constitution of India, like that of Canada, has introduced the system of single citizenship and provided uniform rights (except in few cases) for the people of India to promote the feeling of fraternity and unity among them and to build an integrated Indian nation. Despite this, India has been witnessing the communal riots, class conflicts, caste wars, linguistic clashes and ethnic disputes. Thus, the cherished goal of the founding fathers and the Constitution-makers to build an united and integrated Indian nation has not been fully realised.

In September 2000, the Government of India (Ministry of External Affairs) had set-up a High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora under the Chairmanship of L.M. Singhvi. The mandate of the Committee was to make a comprehensive study of the global Indian Diaspora and to recommend measures for a constructive relationship with them.

The committee submitted its report in January, 2002. It recommended the amendment of the Citizenship Act (1955) to provide for grant of dual citizenship to the Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) belonging to certain specified countries.

Accordingly, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, made provision for acquisition of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) by the PIOs of 16 specified countries other than Pakistan and Bangladesh. It also omitted all provisions recognizing, or relating to the Commonwealth Citizenship from the Principal Act.

Later, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005, expanded the scope of grant of OCI for PIOs of all countries except Pakistan and Bangladesh as long as their home countries all dual citizenship under their local laws. It must be noted here that the OCI is not actually a dual citizenships as the Indian Constitution forbids dual citizenship or dual nationality (Article 9).

Again, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2015, has modified the provisions pertaining to the OCI in the Principal Act. It has introduced a new scheme called "Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder” by merging the PIO card scheme and the OCI card scheme.

The PIO card scheme was introduced on August 19, 2002 and thereafter the OCI card scheme was introduced w.e.f. December 2, 2005. Both the schemes were running in parallel even though the OCI card scheme had become more popular. This was causing unnecessary confusion in the minds of applicants. Keeping in view some problems being faced by applicants and to provide enhanced facilities to them, the Government of India decided to formulate one single scheme after merging the PIO and OCI schemes, containing positive attributes of both. Hence, for achieving this objective, the Citizenship (Amendment)

Act, 2015, was enacted. The PIO scheme was rescinded w.e.f. January 9, 2015 and it was also notified that all existing PIO cardholders shall be deemed to be OCI cardholders w.e.f. January 9, 2015.7

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2015, replaced the nomenclature of "Overseas Citizen of India” with that of "Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder” and made the following provisions in the Principal Act :