With reference to India, consider the following statements : 1. There is only one citizenship and one domicile. 2. A citizen by birth only can become the Head of State. 3. A foreigner once granted the citizenship cannot be deprived of it under any circumstances. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
The Citizenship Act offers other categories of citizenship like Citizenship by Registration (Section 5) and Citizenship by Naturalisation (Section 6).
These are basically for foreigners who wish to settle in India and seek Indian citizenship or persons of Indian origin living abroad who want to return to India and live as citizens in this country.
Citizenship is listed in the Union List under the Constitution and thus is under the exclusive jurisdiction of Parliament.
The Constitution does not define the term ‘citizen’ but details of various categories of persons who are entitled to citizenship are given in Part 2 (Articles 5 to 11).
Unlike other provisions of the Constitution, which came into being on January 26, 1950, these articles were enforced on November 26, 1949, itself, when the Constitution was adopted.
A person is said to have a domicile in a country in which he/she is considered to have his/her permanent home.
A person cannot have more than one domicile. The Constitution of India does not allow holding Indian citizenship and citizenship of a foreign country simultaneously. Hence, Statement 1 is correct.
In India, both a citizen by birth as well as a naturalized citizen is eligible for the office of President while in the USA, only a citizen by birth and not a naturalized citizen is eligible for the office of President. Hence, Statement 2 is not correct.
The Citizenship Act, 1955, prescribes three ways of losing citizenship whether acquired under the Act or before it under the Constitution, viz, renunciation, termination, and deprivation. Hence, Statement 3 is not correct.