'Rights to Have Rights’ in Context of Citizenship Matrix in India

Abstract

Much has been said about the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 while protestors all over India demanded to withdraw the law claiming that it is discriminatory. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court but in this piece, it is added that the amendments made over the years, in the citizenship law, have changed the very notion and discourse of citizenship by altering the context of `rights to have rights’. The amended provisions alter the very nature of relationship that exists between a citizen and the state. The principle of jus soli (citizenship by birth) is being replaced by jus sanguinis (citizenship by bloodline). At the same time, the law reduces the scope of human rights while eradicating a person’s entitlements to renders the status of all persons as stateless. It empowers the bureaucratic state machinery to determine as to who is a citizen. Therefore, it is essential to reconsider the citizenship matrix to necessarily protect human rights of citizens.

Keywords: citizenship, Rights, human rights, law, India