Citizenship under Art 5 to 11 and the Citizenship Act 1955, the modes of acquisition and loss, OCI and the CAA 2019, and the three emergencies under Art 352, 356 and 360 with their named cases
Citizenship and the emergency provisions are the most security-relevant chapter of the Constitution, and CAPF mines both. Citizenship feeds the citizen-versus-foreigner distinction that underlies border management and the work of the BSF, SSB and ITBP, and the examiner asks about single citizenship, the modes of acquisition and loss, OCI, and the CAA, 2019. The emergency provisions can convert the federal system into a unitary one, and the examiner asks the grounds, approval rules, durations and effects of the three emergencies, the 44th Amendment safeguards, and the named cases (S R Bommai 1994, ADM Jabalpur 1976). This note gives the full Part II citizenship map (Art 5 to 11), the Citizenship Act, 1955 modes, and the complete three-emergency tables that the objective test rewards. The standard reference is NCERT Class XI "Indian Constitution at Work" and Laxmikanth's chapters on citizenship and the emergency provisions.
India has single citizenship: a person is a citizen of India, not of a State, a feature borrowed from the United Kingdom. Part II (Art 5 to 11) of the Constitution settled only who became a citizen at the commencement of the Constitution on 1950-01-26; it did not lay down a permanent law. Art 11 expressly empowered Parliament to regulate citizenship by law, which it did through the Citizenship Act, 1955.
| Article | Subject |
|---|---|
| Art 5 | Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution (domicile plus birth, or parentage, or ordinary residence) |
| Art 6 | Rights of citizenship of persons who migrated to India from Pakistan |
| Art 7 | Rights of citizenship of persons who migrated to Pakistan after 1947-03-01 (and certain returnees) |
| Art 8 | Rights of citizenship of persons of Indian origin residing outside India |
| Art 9 | Persons voluntarily acquiring the citizenship of a foreign State are not Indian citizens |
| Art 10 | Continuance of the rights of citizenship |
| Art 11 | Power of Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law |
| Mode of acquisition | Mode of loss |
|---|---|
| By birth | By renunciation (a voluntary declaration by a citizen) |
| By descent | By termination (automatic, on voluntarily acquiring the citizenship of another country) |
| By registration | By deprivation (a compulsory act of the Government, for fraud, disloyalty, or trading with the enemy) |
| By naturalisation | |
| By incorporation of territory |
India does not allow dual citizenship. The Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status, introduced by a 2005 amendment to the Citizenship Act, is not full citizenship: an OCI cardholder has no voting rights, cannot hold constitutional offices (President, Vice-President, judge of the Supreme Court or High Court), cannot be a member of a legislature, and cannot ordinarily hold public service posts. The earlier Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card scheme was merged into the OCI scheme in 2015.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (the CAA) provides an accelerated path to citizenship by naturalisation for six specified non-Muslim minority communities (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian) from three neighbouring countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan) who entered India on or before 2014-12-31. For these communities the qualifying residence period is reduced. The CAA does not by itself confer citizenship automatically; it eases eligibility for the named groups.
The Citizenship Act has been amended several times, and the examiner sometimes tests the year and the change.
| Amendment | Year | Change |
|---|---|---|
| First major amendment | 1986 | Tightened citizenship by birth: a child born in India is a citizen only if at least one parent is an Indian citizen |
| Amendment | 2003 | Introduced the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) scheme and the concept of "illegal migrant"; provided for a National Register of Citizens |
| Amendment | 2005 | Expanded the OCI scheme |
| Amendment | 2015 | Merged the PIO card scheme into the OCI cardholder scheme |
| Amendment | 2019 | The CAA, easing naturalisation for six communities from three countries (cut-off 2014-12-31) |
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the official register of Indian citizens; an updated NRC exercise was carried out in Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court, with a cut-off date of 1971-03-24 fixed by the Assam Accord, 1985. The distinction between a citizen, a foreigner and an "illegal migrant" runs directly into border management and the detection-of-foreigners work in which the BSF and the State police are involved.
There are three kinds of emergency: the National Emergency (Art 352), the President's Rule or State Emergency (Art 356), and the Financial Emergency (Art 360). They allow the Constitution to be operated in a unitary mode in a crisis. The 38th Amendment (1975) had made the proclamation of an emergency immune from judicial review, but the 44th Amendment (1978) removed that immunity, and the proclamation is now subject to judicial review.
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Ground | War, external aggression or armed rebellion (the words "internal disturbance" were replaced by "armed rebellion" by the 44th Amendment, 1978) |
| Types | "External Emergency" (war or external aggression) and "Internal Emergency" (armed rebellion) |
| Proclaimed by | The President, only on the written advice of the Cabinet (the written-advice requirement was added by the 44th Amendment, 1978) |
| Parliamentary approval | Within 1 month of the proclamation, by a special majority of each House |
| Duration after approval | 6 months at a time; can be extended indefinitely with parliamentary approval every 6 months |
| Revocation | The President may revoke at any time; the Lok Sabha can disapprove by a simple majority (a safeguard added by the 44th Amendment) |
| Effect on Fundamental Rights | Art 19 is automatically suspended only when the emergency is on the ground of war or external aggression; other rights may be suspended by a Presidential order under Art 359, except Art 20 and Art 21 (protected by the 44th Amendment) |
| Effect on federalism | The Centre can give executive directions to the States and Parliament can legislate on State subjects (Art 250); the Lok Sabha term may be extended one year at a time |
| Proclaimed | 3 times: 1962 (China war, external aggression), 1971 (Pakistan war, external aggression), 1975 to 1977 (on the ground of the then "internal disturbance") |
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Ground | Failure of the constitutional machinery in a State (the government cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution) |
| Proclaimed by | The President, usually on a report from the Governor of the State, or otherwise |
| Parliamentary approval | Within 2 months, by a simple majority of each House |
| Duration | 6 months at a time; maximum 3 years (extension beyond one year is subject to conditions added by the 44th Amendment) |
| Effect | The President assumes the executive functions of the State; Parliament exercises the State legislature's powers; the State Assembly is suspended or dissolved |
| Limit | The President cannot assume the powers of the State High Court or suspend the constitutional provisions relating to it |
| Key case | S R Bommai v Union of India (1994): the proclamation is subject to judicial review, secularism is part of the basic structure, and the test of majority must be decided on the floor of the House, not by the Governor's subjective assessment |
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Ground | A threat to the financial stability or credit of India or of any part of its territory |
| Parliamentary approval | Within 2 months, by a simple majority of each House |
| Duration | No maximum prescribed; continues until revoked |
| Effect | The Centre may direct the States to observe canons of financial propriety; the salaries and allowances of public servants, including the judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, may be reduced; money bills passed by a State legislature may be reserved for the President's consideration |
| Status | Has never been proclaimed in India |
| Feature | National (352) | President's Rule (356) | Financial (360) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground | War, external aggression, armed rebellion | Failure of constitutional machinery in a State | Threat to financial stability or credit |
| Approval majority | Special majority | Simple majority | Simple majority |
| Approval window | 1 month | 2 months | 2 months |
| Maximum duration | Indefinite (six-monthly approval) | 3 years | No limit |
| Times proclaimed | 3 (1962, 1971, 1975) | Many times | Never |
| Often mixed up | The correct position |
|---|---|
| Approval majority for the three emergencies | National needs a special majority; President's Rule and Financial need a simple majority |
| Approval window | National within 1 month; President's Rule and Financial within 2 months |
| OCI vs full citizenship | OCI is not citizenship; no vote, no constitutional office |
| Dual citizenship | India does not allow it |
| 44th vs 61st Amendment | 44th made the emergency safeguards; 61st cut the voting age to 18 |
| Art 355 vs Art 356 | Art 355 is the Union's duty to protect States; Art 356 is the President's Rule itself |
| Which rights survive an emergency | Art 20 and Art 21 cannot be suspended; Art 19 is auto-suspended only for war or external aggression |