The concept of citizenship is composed of three main elements or dimensions. The first is citizenship as legal status, defined by civil, political and social rights. The second considers citizens specifically as political agents, actively participating in a society’s political institutions. The third refers to citizenship as membership in a political community that furnishes a distinct source of identity. Relations between the three dimensions are complex: the rights a citizen enjoys will partly define the range of available political activities while explaining how citizenship can be a source of identity by strengthening the sense of self-respect. A strong civic identity can itself motivate citizens to participate actively in their society’s political life. That distinct groups within a state do not share the same sense of identity towards ‘their’ political community (or communities) can be a reason to argue in favour of a differentiated allocation of rights.
The two expressions ‘citizenship’ and ‘nationality’ are often used interchangeably in international law, though there may be certain shades of distinction between the two. Citizenship is acquired by birth or by naturalization. Nationality, on the other hand, is more a description of cultural identity than a matter of political and personal rights.
The constitutional provisions relating to citizenship are embodied in Part-II of the Constitution in a fasciculus of seven articles from Article 5 to Aricle11. Those provisions were meant mainly to delineate the framework of citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution by inclusions, exclusions and deeming provisions. More importantly, the Constitution left it to the Parliament to enact a comprehensive legislation on citizenship. There being no law in existence with respect to the acquisition and termination of citizenship it was necessary to make such a law to supplement the provisions of the Constitution. To achieve this object the Citizenship Act, 1955 was enacted. The Act has been subsequently amended from time to time by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1986, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1992, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, and the Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance, 2005.
India’s Emigration Act of 1983 regulates emigration of Indian workers for overseas employment on a contractual basis and seeks to safeguard their interests and ensure their welfare. With a view to replace the existing Emigration Act, 1983, the government is proposing to bring in a new legislation namely the Emigration Management Bill, 2009. The proposed legislation is aimed at transforming emigration into a simple, transparent, efficient, and humane economic process, facilitate legal migration, prevent illegal migration and human smuggling, enable ethical recruitment practices, enhance the protection and welfare of emigrants, and manage student mobility and matters connected therewith. The Government is also implementing an e-governance project which will keep track of the recruitment for overseas employment on real-time basis and prevent/ detect any malpractices by unscrupulous recruiting agents.
In this book, we have covered the topics like nature and scope of citizenship, historical evolution of citizenship, theories of citizenship, constitutional provisions of citizenship, Citizenship Act, 1955, and Emigration Law & its associated concepts. This book provides a short cut to the students of the 5 year law degree course to enable them to get a broad understanding of the topics that would be covered under the revised syllabi with effect from the academic year 2009-2010.
We owe our gratitude to Mr. D. Durga Prasad, LL.B, FCS, for his personal attention, inputs and technical support. Our thanks are also due to Mr. M. Venkateswarlu for his wholehearted and efficient secretarial support in bringing out this Book.
