CDS (I) 2023 General Knowledge · Question 95 of 120

Correct — A, 26th January, 1950. The Citizenship Act, 1955 is described in its own long title as 'An Act to provide for the acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship', and every acquisition provision in it starts from the day the Constitution came into force. Section 3, on citizenship by birth, opens with a person born in India 'on or after the 26th day of January, 1950'; section 4, on citizenship by descent, opens with a person born outside India 'on or after the 26th day of January, 1950'. The reason is a division of labour written into the Constitution itself. Articles 5 to 11 in Part II settled who was a citizen at the commencement of the Constitution, that is on 26 January 1950; Article 11 then left it to Parliament to regulate citizenship thereafter, and this Act is what Parliament made under that power. Anything before 26 January 1950 is the Constitution's business; anything from that day onwards is the Act's.

• (b)26th November, 1949 — 26 November 1949 is the day the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution, and a handful of provisions — including the citizenship Articles — were brought into force that day so that the first elections could be prepared. But the Act's own sections take 26 January 1950 as their starting point.
• (c)15th August, 1947 — 15 August 1947 is Independence Day. Migration to and from Pakistan around that date is dealt with by Articles 6 and 7 of the Constitution, not by this Act, and those Articles use 19 July 1948 and 1 March 1947 as their cut-offs.
• (d)14th August, 1947 — 14 August 1947 is the date of the creation of Pakistan. It appears in no operative provision of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Indian citizenship law sits in two layers. Part II of the Constitution, Articles 5 to 11, fixed who was a citizen when the Constitution commenced — persons domiciled in India with the required connection, migrants from and to Pakistan on stated conditions, and persons of Indian origin resident abroad who registered. Article 11 gave Parliament full power to make any provision on the acquisition and termination of citizenship thereafter. The Citizenship Act, 1955 exercises that power, providing for citizenship by birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and incorporation of territory, and for renunciation, termination and deprivation.

The item is decided by matching a date to the right instrument, and the three wrong options are all real and famous dates from the same few years. The clean way to hold it is by the two-layer structure. If a question concerns who was already a citizen when the Republic began, the answer lies in the Constitution; if it concerns how citizenship is acquired or lost afterwards, the answer lies in the Act, and the Act's clock starts on 26 January 1950. The Act has been amended repeatedly since — most importantly in 1986, which ended unqualified citizenship by birth, in 2003, which introduced the illegal migrant bar and the Overseas Citizen of India card, and in 2019, which added the proviso exempting certain communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered on or before 31 December 2014 from being treated as illegal migrants. None of those amendments disturbs the commencement date the question is asking about.

• Sections 3 and 4 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 both run from persons born 'on or after the 26th day of January, 1950'.
• The Act's long title is 'An Act to provide for the acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship'.
• Articles 5 to 11 of the Constitution deal with citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution; Article 11 empowers Parliament to legislate on citizenship thereafter.
• The Act provides five modes of acquisition — birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and incorporation of territory — and three modes of loss: renunciation, termination and deprivation.
• The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1986 ended unqualified citizenship by birth from 1 July 1987 by requiring a parent to be an Indian citizen.

• Choosing 26 November 1949 because it is the date the Constitution was adopted; the Act's sections run from 26 January 1950.
• Treating the Partition dates as cut-offs in the Act; those belong to Articles 6 and 7 of the Constitution.
• Assuming citizenship by birth in India has always been unconditional; it was restricted from 1 July 1987.

As a date-to-instrument item, or as a statements question separating what the Constitution settled from what the Act governs.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Citizenship provisions in the Constitution of India are contained in which Part?

  • (a)Part I
  • (b)Part II
  • (c)Part III
  • (d)Part IV

  Answer(b) Part II — Articles 5 to 11, which settle citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution and empower Parliament to legislate thereafter.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is NOT a mode of acquiring Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955?

  • (a)By birth
  • (b)By descent
  • (c)By naturalisation
  • (d)By investment

  Answer(d) By investment — the Act recognises birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and incorporation of territory.