Last month the Supreme Court (October 17), upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A   of the Citizenship Act(CA), 1955.  Section 6A grants citizenship to immigrants who entered Assam before March 24, 1971.

LEARNING FROM HOME/ WITHOUT CLASSES/ BASICS

In India, citizenship is regulated by the Citizenship Act, 1955.  The Act specifies that citizenship may be acquired in India through five methods – by birth in India, by descent, through registration, by naturalisation (extended residence in India), and by incorporation of territory into India.

          Articles 5 to 8 of the Indian Constitution govern the conditions under which an individual can get Indian citizenship. Article 9 governs the conditions when the same can be revoked. Article 10 gives the right for the continuation of the citizenship and Article 11 gives the government the authority to make rules related to citizenship. The CA of 1955 was enacted by the parliament under Article 11 of the constitution.