Citizenship
Citizenship is defined as the full and equal membership of a political community. In today's world, this membership is primarily granted by states. Being a citizen gives a person a collective political identity—such as Indian, Japanese, or German—and a set of rights and protections provided by their state.
The value of citizenship becomes clear when we consider the condition of those without it. People who are forced to live as refugees or illegal migrants have no state to grant them membership or guarantee their rights. They often live in very difficult and insecure conditions. For them, achieving full membership in a state is a significant goal they are willing to struggle for.
The rights that citizens enjoy today were not given freely; they were won through long struggles.
In most democratic countries, citizenship includes a range of rights:
The idea of "full and equal membership" can be complex. Often, a division develops between 'insiders' and 'outsiders'. When resources like jobs, healthcare, or education are scarce, local populations may want to restrict entry to people from other regions, even if they are fellow citizens.
This raises important questions:
One of the key rights of a citizen is the freedom of movement. This is especially important for workers who migrate in search of jobs. We see this with I.T. workers moving to cities like Bangalore or nurses from Kerala working across the country.
However, this migration can lead to conflict. Local people may resist the influx of workers, especially if they work for lower wages. This can lead to demands to reserve jobs for locals or even organised violence against 'outsiders'. This conflict forces us to consider if the right to freedom of movement includes the right to live and work anywhere in the country for everyone, including poor and unskilled workers.
Disputes over these issues can arise even in democracies. The democratic way to resolve them is through negotiation and discussion, not force. Citizens have the right to protest, which is part of the freedom of expression, as long as it does not harm others. They can influence public opinion and government policy by:
Beyond rights, citizenship also includes obligations. These are not just legal duties but also a moral responsibility to participate in and contribute to the community. Citizens are considered trustees of their country's culture and natural resources.
Another key aspect of citizenship is whether it guarantees basic rights and a minimum standard of living for all citizens, rich or poor. The situation of the urban poor in India provides a clear case study.
In every Indian city, there is a large population of slum-dwellers and squatters. Though they perform essential jobs—as hawkers, domestic workers, plumbers, or mechanics—they are often seen as unwelcome. They live in shocking conditions, with little access to sanitation, water, or security.
Despite their significant contribution to the economy, cities spend very little on providing services to them. However, awareness is growing.
Other marginalised groups, like tribal people and forest dwellers, also face threats to their way of life and livelihood. Their dependence on forests and natural resources is threatened by commercial interests like mining and tourism.
Ensuring equal rights for all is not simple. Different groups have different needs, and the rights of one group may conflict with another. Equal rights do not mean that uniform policies should be applied to everyone. To make people truly more equal, policies must take into account their different needs and claims.
The British sociologist T. H. Marshall defined citizenship as a status that makes all full members of a community equal concerning their rights and duties. He identified three kinds of rights that make a life of dignity possible:
The modern nation-state defines itself by its territory, as well as a unique culture and shared history. This national identity is expressed through symbols like a flag, national anthem, or language.
Democratic states aim to create an inclusive political identity that all citizens can share. However, in practice, most countries define their identity in a way that makes it easier for some citizens to identify with the state than others.
Different countries have different criteria for granting citizenship.
India defines itself as a secular, democratic, nation-state. The Indian Constitution was designed to accommodate a highly diverse society, providing full and equal citizenship to groups like:
The Constitution established an inclusive idea of citizenship, which can be acquired by birth, descent, registration, or naturalisation. It prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth and protects the rights of religious and linguistic minorities.
The idea of universal citizenship suggests that everyone should be a member of a state. However, the reality is different. The world has many stateless people, such as refugees and illegal migrants, who are not accepted as citizens by any state.
People become stateless for many reasons, including:
Stateless people are extremely vulnerable. They are often forced to live in camps or as illegal migrants, unable to work legally, educate their children, or own property. The United Nations (U.N.) has a High Commissioner for Refugees to help these populations.
While many countries, including India, have a policy of providing refuge to persecuted people (like the Dalai Lama and his followers in 1959), they also face the difficult political problem of how many people they can absorb without creating security risks or straining resources. This challenges the promise of democratic citizenship, which is supposed to be available to all.
We live in an interconnected world, thanks to technologies like the internet, television, and mobile phones. We can now see events happening in other parts of the world in real-time, which helps develop shared sympathies and concerns across national borders.
Supporters of global citizenship argue that we are already linked across national boundaries and should work to strengthen this feeling. The concept of national citizenship assumes a state can provide all the protection and rights we need. However, states today face global problems they cannot solve alone, such as:
In this context, the idea of global citizenship is appealing because it could:
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