Political Theory Chapter 6 Citizenship

Philip has the choice of choosing Indian or American citizenship.

Yes, he can become a naturalised citizen. If a foreign national is appointed to a government office then he/she can acquire citizenship of the country where he/she has become a government servant.

It reflects unhealthy attitude towards citizenship.

Citizenship has been defined as full and equal membership of a political community.

According to Abraham Lincoln, the former President of United States, democracy is “.......a government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

The provisions about citizenship in the Constitution can be found in Part Three and in subsequent laws passed by Parliament. The Constitution adopted an essentially democratic and inclusive notion of citizenship. In India, citizenship can be acquired by birth, descent, registration, naturalisation, or inclusion of territory. The rights and obligations of citizens are listed in the Constitution. There is also a provision that the state should not discriminate against citizens on the grounds of race/caste/sex/place of birth, or any of them. The rights of religious and linguistic minorities are also protected.

Alien is a person who temporarily lives in a country other than his own and is not entittled to political rights like the citizen of that country.

A natural born citizen is one who is either born in a country or if his parents hold citizenship of that country.

Through marriage a foreign woman can acquire Indian citizenship.

Naturalisation is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen in a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country.

If a person remains abroad away from his country for a longer period of time time, then he stand to loose the citizenship. The number of years specified for absence varies from one country to another.

Citizens expect rights from the state.

The citizens of East Pakistan have now acquired the citizenship of new independent country of Bangladesh.
If a territory becomes a part of another country then all the people of that terriotory acquire citizenship of the country. 

Lack of education leads to perpetuation of orthodox customs and superstitions. 

Citizenship is more than the relationship between states and their members. It is also about citizen-citizen relations and involves certain obligations of citizens to each other and to the society. These would include not just the legal obligations imposed by states but also a moral obligation to participate in, and contribute to, the shared life of the community. Citizens are also considered to be the inheritors and trustees of the culture and natural resources of the country.

Awareness about the condition of the urban poor is growing among governments, N.G.O’s and other agencies, and among the slum-dwellers themselves.

For instance, a national policy on urban street vendors was framed in January 2004. There are lakhs of street vendors in big cities and they often face harassment from the police and town authorities. The policy was intended to provide recognition and regulation for vendors to enable them to carry on their profession without harassment so long as they obeyed government regulations.

The concept of nation state evolved in the modern period. One of the earliest assertions regarding the sovereignty of the nation state and democratic rights of citizens was made by the revolutionaries in France in 1789. Nation states claim that their boundaries define not just a territory but also a unique culture and shared history. The national identity may be expressed through symbols like a flag, national anthem, national language, or certain ceremonial practices, among other things.

Citizen and Alien

The precise nature of the rights granted to citizens may vary from state to state but in most democratic countries today they would include some political rights like the right to vote, civil rights like the freedom of speech or belief, and some socio-economic rights which could include the right to a minimum wage, or the right to education. Equality of rights and status is one of the basic rights of citizenship.

Often resistance builds up among the local people against so many jobs going to people from outside the area, sometimes at lower wages. A demand may develop to restrict certain jobs to those who belong to the state, or those who know the local language. Political parties may take up the issue. Resistance could even take the form of organised violence against ‘outsiders’. Almost every region of India has experienced such movements. 

The issue of whether full and equal membership means that all citizens, rich or poor, should be granted certain basic rights and a minimum standard of living by the state. Because if all citizens may be granted equal rights but all of them may not be able to equally exercise them due to their poverty, illiteracy, socio–economic conditions, etc,

(i)We can take one set of people, that is the urban poor. Dealing with the problem of the poor in towns is one of the urgent problems facing the government today. There is a large population of slum–dwellers and squatters in every city in India. Although they may do necessary and useful work, often at low wages, thus are generally viewed as unwelcome visitors by the rest of the town population. 

(ii)The conditions in slums are generally very shocking. The city probably spends relatively I little on providing slum dwellers with services I such as sanitation or water supply. Awareness | about the conditions of the urban poor is growing |among governments. N.G.Os and other agencies, and among the slum dwellers themselves. For example, a national policy on urban street vendors was framed in January 2004. There are  lakhs of street vendors in big cities and they often face harasment from the police and town authorities.

(iii)Slum dwellers also are becoming aware of their rights and are beginning to organise to demand them. They have sometimes even approached the courts. Even a basic political right like the right to vote may be difficult for them to exercise because to be included in the list of voters a fixed address in required and squatters and pavement dwellers may find it difficult to provide this.

(iv)Among other groups of people who are becoming marginalised in our society are the tribal people and forest-dwellers. These people are dependent on access to forests and other natural resources to maintain their way of life. Many of them face threats to their way of life and livelihood because of the pressure of increasing populations and the search for land and resources to maintain them.

(v)Pressures from commercial interests wanting to mine the resources which may exist in forests or coast poses another threat to the way of life and livelihood of forest–dwellers and tribal peoples, as does the tourist industry. Governments are struggling with the problem of how to protest these people and their habitat without at the same time endangering development of the country. This is an issue that affects all citizens, not just tribal people.

(vi)To try and ensure equal rights and opport unities for all citizens cannot be a simple matter for any government. Different groups of people may have different needs and problems and the rights for citizens need not mean that uniform policies have to be applied to all people since different groups of people may have different needs. If the purpose is not just to make policies which would apply in the same way to all people, but to make people more equal, the different needs and claims of people would have to be taken into account when framing policies.

The Indian Constitution attempted to accommodate a very diverse society. To mention just a few of these diversities, it attempted to provide full and equal citizenship to groups as different as the Dalits (the Scheduled Castes) and Scheduled Tribes, many women who had not previously enjoyed equal rights, some remote communities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands who had little contact with modern civilization, and many others. However, even such inclusive provisions have given rise to struggles and controversies.

(i)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. Thirty three percentage seats have been reserved in all local governments bodies.

(ii)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 charge and new demands are made by groups who feel they are being marginalised. In a democratic state there demands have to be negotiated. The other Backward Castes have been agitating for 27½ per cent reservation in all educational institution.

Women are demanding reservation of 33% seats in state legislative assemblies as well as in Lok Sabha also.

Some of the problems faced by Refugees are : 

In spite of restrictions, even the building of walls or fences, considerable migration of peoples still takes place in the world. People may be displaced by wars, or persecution, famine, or other reasons. If no state is willing to accept them and they cannot return home, they become stateless peoples or refugees. They may be forced to live in camps, or as illegal migrants. Often they cannot legally work, or educate their children, or acquire property. The problem is so great that the U.N. has appointed a High Commissioner for Refugees to try and help them.

One of the attractions of the notion of global citizenship is that it might make it easier to deal with problems which extend across national boundaries and which therefore, need cooperative action by the people and governments of several states. For example, it might make it easier to find an acceptable solution to the issue of migrants and stateless peoples, or at least to ensure them basic rights and protection regardless of the country in which they may be living.

The contributions:

Migrants perform necessary and useful work, often at low wages. Slum–dwellers in cities make a significant contribution to the economy through their labour. They may be hawkers, petty traders, scavenaers, or domestic helpers or workers, plumbers, or mechanics, among other profession. Small business such as cane–weaving, or textile printing, or tailoring, may also develop in slums.

(d) Is capable of earning a decent salary.

(d) Siddharta Mehta who has been appointed advisor to the American President.

(d) spread of education

Citizenship

Universal

refugees or illegal migrants

Equality, status.

During seventeenth to twentieth century, white people of Europe established their rule over the black people in South Africa. 

The whites had the right to vote, contest elections and elect government; they were free to purchase property and go to any place in the country. Blacks did not have such rights. Separate colonies for whites and blacks were established. The blacks had to take ‘passes’ to work in white neighbourhoods. They were not allowed to keep their families in the white areas. The schools were also separate for the people of different colour.

The characteristics of colonial policy practiced in South Africa:

(i)All the adult whites had the right to vote, contest elections and elect government. They were free to purchase property and go to any place in the country.

(ii) On the other hand the Blacks of the South Africa did not have all such rights (political, economic and civil) enjoyed by the minority Whites.

(iii) Separate colonies for Whites and Blacks were established.

(iv) The Blacks had to take ‘passes’ to work in white neighbourhoods.

(v) The Blacks were not allowed to keep their families in the White areas.

(vi) The schools were also separate for the people of different colours .

The 1950’s witnessed the emergence of Civil Rights Movement against inequalities that prevailed between Black and White populations in many of the southern states of the USA.

Inequalities were maintained in America by a set of laws called Segregation Laws through which the black people were denied many civil and political rights. These laws created separate areas for coloured and white people in various civic amenities like railways, buses, theatres, housing, hotels, restaurants, etc.

Segregation laws created separate areas for coloured and white people in various civic amenities like railways, buses, theatres, housing, hotels, restaurants, etc.

Women of the middle class family had to clean and wash their utensils.