Is India open to the idea of dual citizenship?

Is India open to the idea of dual citizenship?

Sub: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Context: –At an event in December, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said there are a lot of challenges in providing dual citizenship to Indians settled abroad. He pointed out that the Overseas Citizenship of India drive is a step towards meeting the demand and added that the debate on dual citizenship is “still alive”.

Constitutional Provisions:

• Part II of the Indian Constitution, under Article 5 to 11 deals with citizenship.

Some of the articles in Part II include:

• Article 5: –Defines citizenship at the time of the Constitution’s commencement.
• Article 8: –Defines the rights of citizenship for certain people of Indian origin who live outside of India.
• Article 9: –Defines that people who voluntarily acquire citizenship of a foreign state are not to be considered citizens.
• Article 11: –Gives the Parliament of India the power to regulate citizenship rights by law.

Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI):

The Government of India introduced the concept of Overseas Citizenship of India through an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, in 2005.

Eligibility: –

• A person who was a citizen of India at any time after the commencement of the Constitution (26.01.1950).
• A person eligible to become a citizen of India on 26.01.1950.
• A person belonging to a territory that became part of India after 15.08.1947.
• A child, grandchild, or great-grandchild of such a citizen.
• A minor child of the above-mentioned persons.
• A minor child whose both parents or one parent is an Indian citizen.
• A spouse of foreign origin of an Indian citizen or OCI cardholder, with a registered marriage subsisting for at least two years before applying.

Exclusion:

• Individuals whose parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, or any other country specified by the Central Government are not eligible for OCI registration.

Features of OCI:

• OCI is not equivalent to dual citizenship.
• OCI citizens are of Indian origin but they are foreign passport holders and are not citizens of India. India does not allow dual citizenship but provides them certain benefits under Section 7B(I) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 to the OCIs.
• As per norms, a foreigner of Indian origin or a foreign spouse of an Indian citizen or foreign spouse of an OCI can be registered as an OCI. OCI card is a life-long visa for OCIs to stay in India
• The Ministry issued a notification specifying that OCIs require special permission for “missionary, Tabligh, mountaineering or journalistic activities.”
• The MHA had said that OCI card holders can lay claim to “only NRI quota seats” in educational institutions based on all-India entrance tests such as the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the Joint Entrance Examination (Mains), Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) or other such all-India character tests.
• So far about 37.72 lakh OCI cards have been issued by the Government of India
• It provides certain privileges like a lifelong visa to visit India, exemption from registration with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), and rights to purchase property in India, except agricultural land.
• OCI holders cannot vote, hold government positions, or contest elections in India.

Person of Indian Origin (PIO):

• Background: The PIO scheme was launched earlier to provide benefits to foreign citizens of Indian origin.
• Recent Merger with OCI: In 2015, the PIO card scheme was merged with the OCI card scheme to streamline benefits under a single category. Existing PIO cardholders were asked to convert their cards to OCI.