“Democratic citizenship is a project rather than an accomplished fact even in countries like India which grant equal citizenship.” Discuss some of the issues regarding citizenship being raised in India today.

The women’s movement, the dalit movement, or struggles of people displaced by development projects, represent only a few of the struggles being waged by people who feel that they are being denied full rights of citizenship. The experience of India indicates that democratic citizenship in any country is a project, an ideal to work towards. New issues are constantly being raised as societies change and new demands are made by groups who feel they are being marginalised.

India prides itself on providing refuge to persecuted peoples, as it did with the Dalai Lama and his followers in 1958. Entry of people from neighbouring countries has taken place along all the borders of the Indian state and the process continues. Many of these people remain as stateless peoples for many years or generations, living in camps, or as illegal migrants. Only a relatively few of them are eventually granted citizenship.