Citizenship at the Commencement of the Constitution
Category: Citizenship
What is Article 5?
Article 5 is the first provision in Part II of the Indian Constitution, which deals with citizenship. It establishes the constitutional conditions for determining who would be recognised as a citizen of India at the commencement of the Constitution. The provision is specifically concerned with the commencement of the Constitution. It therefore has a historical and constitutional context connected with the beginning of the Constitution rather than functioning as a complete set of rules for acquiring Indian citizenship today. Article 5 requires a person to have domicile in the territory of India. In addition to domicile, the provision provides three alternative conditions. A person could qualify if the person was born in the territory of India, if either parent was born in the territory of India, or if the person had been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for at least five years immediately before the commencement of the Constitution. The three conditions in clauses (a), (b) and (c) are alternatives. Therefore, the constitutional text does not require all three conditions to be satisfied together. The central requirement is domicile in India along with any one of the specified conditions. Article 5 should also be read in the context of Articles 6 to 11. Article 6 deals with certain persons who migrated to India from the territory then included in Pakistan, while Article 7 deals with certain persons who migrated from India to the territory then included in Pakistan. Article 8 concerns certain persons of Indian origin residing outside India. Articles 9, 10 and 11 deal with foreign citizenship, continuance of citizenship and Parliament's power to regulate citizenship by law. Article 5 is therefore important for understanding the constitutional framework of citizenship at the time the Constitution commenced. It sets out the initial constitutional criteria based on domicile, birth, parentage or residence.
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Official Constitutional Text
Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution.—At the commencement of this Constitution, every person who has his domicile in the territory of India and— (a) who was born in the territory of India; or (b) either of whose parents was born in the territory of India; or (c) who has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years immediately preceding such commencement, shall be a citizen of India.
Article 5 Explained in Simple Words
Article 5 is the first provision in Part II of the Indian Constitution, which deals with citizenship. It establishes the constitutional conditions for determining who would be recognised as a citizen of India at the commencement of the Constitution. The provision is specifically concerned with the commencement of the Constitution. It therefore has a historical and constitutional context connected with the beginning of the Constitution rather than functioning as a complete set of rules for acquiring Indian citizenship today. Article 5 requires a person to have domicile in the territory of India. In addition to domicile, the provision provides three alternative conditions. A person could qualify if the person was born in the territory of India, if either parent was born in the territory of India, or if the person had been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for at least five years immediately before the commencement of the Constitution. The three conditions in clauses (a), (b) and (c) are alternatives. Therefore, the constitutional text does not require all three conditions to be satisfied together. The central requirement is domicile in India along with any one of the specified conditions. Article 5 should also be read in the context of Articles 6 to 11. Article 6 deals with certain persons who migrated to India from the territory then included in Pakistan, while Article 7 deals with certain persons who migrated from India to the territory then included in Pakistan. Article 8 concerns certain persons of Indian origin residing outside India. Articles 9, 10 and 11 deal with foreign citizenship, continuance of citizenship and Parliament's power to regulate citizenship by law. Article 5 is therefore important for understanding the constitutional framework of citizenship at the time the Constitution commenced. It sets out the initial constitutional criteria based on domicile, birth, parentage or residence.
Article 5 in Simple Words
Article 5 explains who would be considered a citizen of India when the Constitution commenced. A person had to have domicile in India and satisfy at least one of these conditions: birth in India, birth of either parent in India, or ordinary residence in India for at least five years immediately before the commencement of the Constitution.
Article 5 Example
Suppose a person was domiciled in India when the Constitution commenced. If that person was born in India, the birth condition under Article 5 could be satisfied. Similarly, if a person had domicile in India and either of the person's parents had been born in India, the parentage condition could apply. Another person could qualify through the residence condition if the person had domicile in India and had been ordinarily resident in India for at least five years immediately before the commencement of the Constitution. These examples illustrate that the Constitution provided alternative constitutional conditions in Article 5. The provision must be understood in its historical context and together with the other citizenship provisions in Part II.
What is Article 5 of the Indian Constitution?
Article 5 deals with citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution. It provides the constitutional conditions under which a person would be recognised as a citizen of India when the Constitution commenced.
Which Part of the Constitution contains Article 5?
Article 5 is contained in Part II of the Indian Constitution, which deals with Citizenship. Articles 5 to 11 form the constitutional provisions in this Part concerning citizenship.
What is the main purpose of Article 5?
The main purpose of Article 5 is to establish the initial constitutional criteria for citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution. It considers domicile in India together with birth, parentage or ordinary residence.
What is domicile under Article 5?
Article 5 requires the person to have domicile in the territory of India. In the context of Article 5, domicile is a significant constitutional requirement and is considered together with one of the alternative conditions specified in clauses (a), (b) or (c).
What are the conditions under Article 5?
Article 5 provides three alternative conditions in addition to domicile in India. The person could qualify if they were born in India, if either parent was born in India, or if they had been ordinarily resident in India for at least five years immediately before the commencement of the Constitution.
Does Article 5 require all three conditions?
No. The conditions in clauses (a), (b) and (c) are alternatives. The constitutional text uses "or" between them. Therefore, satisfying one of the specified conditions along with the domicile requirement was sufficient under Article 5.
Article 5 and birth in India
Article 5 recognises birth in the territory of India as one of the alternative conditions for citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution, provided the person also had domicile in the territory of India.
Article 5 and parents born in India
Under Article 5, a person could qualify if either of their parents was born in the territory of India, together with the requirement of domicile in India at the commencement of the Constitution.
Article 5 and five years residence
Article 5 also provides an alternative based on ordinary residence. A person with domicile in India could qualify if they had been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years immediately preceding the commencement of the Constitution.
Article 5 and Articles 6 to 8
Article 5 should be read together with Articles 6, 7 and 8. These provisions address different historical citizenship situations, including certain persons who migrated between India and Pakistan and certain persons of Indian origin residing outside India.
Is Article 5 the current citizenship law?
Article 5 is a constitutional provision concerning citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution. It should not be treated as the complete present-day procedure for acquiring Indian citizenship. Article 11 specifically recognises Parliament's power to make laws concerning acquisition and termination of citizenship and related matters.
Article 5 and Parliament
Article 11 provides that Parliament has the power to make provisions relating to acquisition and termination of citizenship and other citizenship matters. Therefore, Article 5 forms part of the initial constitutional citizenship framework, while later citizenship law is also governed by legislation made by Parliament.
Why is Article 5 important?
Article 5 is important because it establishes the constitutional starting point for citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution. It helps explain how the Constitution initially identified Indian citizens using domicile, birth, parentage and residence criteria.
Article 5 in simple words
In simple words, Article 5 explains who would be recognised as an Indian citizen when the Constitution commenced. A person needed domicile in India and had to satisfy one of the specified conditions relating to birth, parentage or residence.