NCERT Class 11 Political Science Chapter 6 Citizenship: Marshall on Citizenship

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  • Full and equal membership of a political community
  • Theories of democratic citizenship claim that citizenship should be universal. Does this mean that every person today should be accepted as a member of one or other state?
  • issue of global citizenship

What is Citizenship?

Illustration: What is Citizenship?
  • full and equal membership of a political community.
  • State provides Political identity + rights – Indians, Germans etc.
  • Citizen expect certain rights and protection while travel
  • Refugees ⟋ illegal migrants – not guaranteed rights - Palestinian refugees in the Middle East
  • Rights granted may vary from state to state
  • Rights in democratic nations – political rights like the right to vote, civil rights like the freedom of speech or belief, right to a minimum wage, or the right to education, equality of rights and status.
  • Each nation wins rights after struggle for independence
  • French Revolution in 1789

Citizens – What Makes Them Unique? ?

Illustration: Citizens – What Makes Them Unique? ?
  • citizen-citizen relations,
  • obligations of citizens to each other and to the society
  • Legal and moral obligations
  • Citizens as inheritors and trustees of the culture and natural resources
  • In South Africa - African population had to undertake a long struggle against the ruling white minority for equal citizenship. This continued until the early 1990s. 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 neighborhoods. They were not allowed to keep their families in the white areas
  • Women movement, Dalit movement – change opinion by highlighting needs of people
  • Martin Luther King – 1950 – rights movement against inequalities in USA for blacks and whites - Segregation Laws through which the black people were denied many civil and political rights.

Abolishing these is important because

  • in terms of self-worth and dignity every human person in the world is equal regardless of one՚s race or color
  • segregation is like՚social leprosy on the body politic because it inflicts deep psychological wounds on the people who suffer as a result of such laws
  • segregation laws create artificial boundaries between people and prevent them from cooperating with each other for the overall benefit of the country

Marshall on Citizenship

Illustration: Marshall on Citizenship
  • T. H. Marshall, British sociologist, book Citizenship and Social Class (1950) on citizenship - a status bestowed on those who are full members of a community. All who possess the status are equal with respect to the rights and duties with which the status is endowed.
  • Equality - Quality of the given rights and duties improves and quantity of people upon whom they are bestowed grows.

Citizenship involves 3 rights

  • Civil rights protect the individual՚s life, liberty and property.
  • Political rights enable the individual to participate in the process of governance.
  • Social rights give the individual access to education and employment

Marshall saw social class as a՚system of inequality . Citizenship ensures equality by countering the divisive effects of class hierarchy. It thus facilitates the creation of a better-integrated and harmonious community

Full & Equal Membership

Illustration: Full & Equal Membership
  • A division soon develops between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ with ‘outsiders’ being seen as a threat.
  • In cities, regions, or even the nation as a whole. If jobs, facilities like medical care or education, and natural resources like land or water, are limited, demands may be made to restrict entry to outsiders
  • State not allowing outsiders
  • Country not allowing visa holders
  • Does it means equal opportunity to all or basic rights for rich and poor?
  • freedom of movement – labour tends to migrate, migrate outside nation for jobs, IT workers in Bengaluru, nurses from Kerala, construction workers as migrant labours.
  • Resistance by local people, demand to reserve certain jobs for local people, outsiders at lower wages, violence against outsiders
  • Welcoming to affluent or skilled workers but not to poor migrants – both have same right to live and work
  • Right to protest - free to try and influence public opinion and government policy by forming groups, holding demonstrations, using the media, appealing to political parties, or by approaching the courts
  • A basic principle of democracy is that such disputes should be settled by negotiation and discussion – obligation of citizenship

Equal Rights

Illustration: Equal Rights
  • whether full and equal membership means that all citizens, rich or poor, should be guaranteed certain basic rights and a minimum standard of living
  • Deal with urban poor – slums and squatters – work at low wages and viewed as unwelcome visitor by common population – blamed for straining resources and spreading crime and disease – lack of sanitation, hygienic life style, insecure life and property but contribute to society as hawkers, petty traders, scavengers, or domestic workers, plumbers, textile printing, or tailoring
  • N. G. O՚s and other agencies work for betterment
  • national policy on urban street vendors was framed in January 2004 - recognition and regulation for vendors – to avoid harassment – aware of rights and belongingness
  • Difficult to get registered in voters list – as no fixed address and rather pavement address is there
  • Tribal and forest dwellers – dependent on forest, face threat of life and livelihood, pressure from commercial interest and tourism industry – issue of how to protect them
  • Different groups of people may have different needs and problems and the rights of one group may conflict with the rights of another
  • Equal rights need not mean uniform policies – but take into account need and claims of people when framing policies
  • Providing equal rights and protection to all citizens should be one of the guiding principles of government policies

Case Studies

Illustration: Case Studies
  • Zimbabwe: 4,400 white families (fertile, irrigated land) owned 32% of agricultural land that is about 10m hectares. About one million black peasant families own just 16m hectares that is 38% of the land. The total population of whites in Zimbabwe is just 0.06% of population.
  • Supreme Court gave an important decision regarding the rights of slum-dwellers in Bombay in response to PIL filed by a social activist, Olga Telis against BMC, 1985. The petition claimed the right to live on pavements or in slums because there was no alternative accommodation available close to their place of work. If they were forced to move, they would lose their livelihood as well. Supreme Court said, “Article 21 of the Constitution which guaranteed the right to life included the right to livelihood. Therefore, if pavement dwellers were to be evicted, they should first be provided alternative accommodation under the right to shelter.”

Citizen & Nation

Illustration: Citizen & Nation
  • Nation state evolved in France in 1789 in modern period - boundaries define not just a territory but also a unique culture and shared history
  • National identity may be expressed through symbols like a flag, national anthem, national language, or certain ceremonial practices
  • Provide political identity that can be shared by all members of state - allows all citizens to identify themselves as part of the nation
  • France – secular & inclusive – includes Europeans and North Africans – assimilation in public aspects and retain personal belief in private lives
  • Religious belief is supposed to belong to the private sphere of citizens, but sometimes religious symbols and practices may enter into their public lives. Demand of Sikh schoolboys in France to wear the turban to school or Muslim girls to wear the head scarf with their school uniforms. This was disallowed.
  • Citizenship rights - In countries such as Israel, or Germany, factors like religion, or ethnic origin, may be given priority when granting citizenship.In Germany there has been a persistent demand from Turkish workers, who were at one time encouraged to come and work in Germany, that their children who have been born and brought up in Germany should automatically be granted citizenship. This is still being debated.

India – Citizenship

Illustration: India – Citizenship
  • India - secular, democratic, nation state
  • bind together people of different religions, regions and cultures
  • Partition of the country did take place in 1947 when differences with the Muslim League
  • Constitution gave full and equal citizenship to groups as different as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, communities of Andaman and Nicobar islands – symbolize in Republic Day parade
Illustration: India – Citizenship
  • The provisions about citizenship in the Constitution can be found in Part Two and in subsequent laws passed by Parliament should not discriminate against citizens on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth
  • 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
  • Naturalization is a legal process to acquire citizenship - acquired by a foreigner who is ordinarily resident in India for 12 years (throughout the period of 12 months immediately preceding the date of application and for 11 years in the aggregate of 14 years preceding the 12 months) and other qualifications as specified in Section 6 (1) of the Citizen Act, 1955
  • Citizenship by birth: Any person born in India on or after 26 January 1950, but prior to the commencement of the 1986 Act on 1 July 1987, is a citizen of India by birth. A person born in India on or after 1 July 1987 but before 3 December 2004 is a citizen of India if one of parents was a citizen of India at the time of the birth. Those born in India on or after 3 December 2004 are considered citizens of India only if both of their parents are citizens of India or if one parent is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of their birth.
  • Citizenship by Descent: Persons born outside India on or after 26 January 1950 but before 10 December 1992 are citizens of India by descent if their father was a citizen of India at the time of their birth. Persons born outside India on or after 10 December 1992 are considered citizens of India if either of their parents is a citizen of India at the time of their birth. From 3 December 2004 onwards, persons born outside of India shall not be considered citizens of India unless their birth is registered at an Indian diplomatic mission within one year of the date of birth.
  • Citizenship by registration: The Central Government may, on an application, register as a citizen of India under section 5 of the Citizenship Act 1955 any person (not being an illegal migrant) .

if she belongs to any of the following categories:

  • a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making application under Section 5 (1) (a) (throughout the period of twelve months immediately before making application and for six years in the aggregate in the eight years preceding the 12 months) .
  • a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in any country or place outside undivided India.
  • a person who is married to a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration.
  • minor children of persons who are citizens of India.
  • a person of full age and capacity whose parents are registered as citizens of India.
  • a person of full age and capacity who, or either of his parents, was earlier citizen of independent India, and has been residing in India for one year immediately before making an application for registration.
  • a person of full age and capacity who has been registered as an overseas citizen of India for five years, and who has been residing in India for one year before making an application for registration.

Universal Citizenship

Stateless People

  • Refugees - people from Asia or Africa who have paid agents to smuggle them into Europe or America people displaced by war or famine
  • Refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan, Palestinians, Burmese or Bangladeshis
  • Full membership – for those who life and work and apply for citizenship
  • But although many states may support the idea of universal and inclusive citizenship, each of them also fixes criteria for the grant of citizenship – as per the constitutional laws
  • Inspite of restrictions, even the building of walls or fences, considerable migration of peoples still takes place – war, famine, persecution
  • 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. They cannot legally work, or educate their children, or acquire property – UN appointed a High Commissioner for Refugees
  • Borders of states are still being redefined by war or political disputes – can citizenship provide an answer to it

Global Citizenship

  • We are One!
  • interconnected world - major change in the way we thought - helped to develop sympathies and shared concerns among people
  • People are linked with each other across boundaries
  • national citizenship assumes that our state can provide us with the protection and rights which we need to live with dignity in the world today but faces problems like individual rights, guaranteed by the state are they sufficient to protect the freedom?
  • Global citizenship – deal with problem across national boundaries and cooperative actions
  • 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
  • equal citizenship within a country can be threatened by the socio-economic inequalities
  • global citizenship reminds us that national citizenship might need to be supplemented by an awareness that we live in an interconnected world.

Mayank