Indian citizenship

This article discusses the legal notion of Indian citizenship.

The Constitution of India provides for single citizenship, which means that a person cannot be a citizen of an individual state in addition to being a citizen of India. Nor can a citizen of India be a citizen of another country at the same time. The current laws defining citizenship were enacted by the Citizenship Act in 1955.

There are four ways to become an Indian citizen: by birth, descent, registration and naturalization. The first criterion is no longer relevant (after 1992) -- a newborn is a citizen if and only if either of its parents is an Indian citizen at the time of birth, irrespective of whether or not it was born in India. Registration is for people of Indian origin or spouses/children of Indian citizens. Naturalization applies to all other people, who can acquire citizenship by residing in India for ten years.

External link

• Indian citizenship - Ministry of Home Affairs (http://mha.nic.in/citi.htm)

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