In India, the population of state is divided into two classes- citizens and aliens. A citizen of a state is a person who enjoys full civil and political rights. Citizens are different from aliens who do not enjoy all these rights. Citizenship carries with it certain advantages conferred by the constitution. Aliens do not enjoy certain advantages. The constitution does not lay down a permanent or comprehensive provision relating to citizenship in India. Part-II of the constitution simply describes classes of persons who would be deemed to be the citizens of India at the commencement of the constitution, 26th January, 1950, and leaves the entire law of the citizenship to be regulated by law made by parliament to make laws to provide for such matters. In exercise of its power the parliament has enacted the Indian citizenship act, 1955. This act provides for the acquisition and termination of citizenship subsequent to the commencement of the constitution. The recent act is of citizenship amendment bill shifts the cutoff date for granting citizenship from March 24, 1971 to December 31, 2014. The bill seeks to amend the citizenship act, 1955 to make Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for citizenship of India.

Keywords: Persecution, migrants, immigrants, demographic, linguistic uniqueness.

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