Citizenship Class 11 Notes Political Science Chapter 16 - CBSE

Chapter : 16

What Are Citizenship ?

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Citizenship is defined as the full and equal membership of a political community. The states provide citizenship to its people which serves as a representation of a collective political identity.
The states grant certain basic rights to all its citizens and ensure its protection in the nation as well as the outside world. Citizenship serves as the identity of the individual like Japanese citizens, Indian citizens and similarly citizens of other nations.
Refugees are the people who are denied citizenship rights and other rights in their own nations and they seek shelter and rights in other nations. These groups are discriminated in several areas varying from social, political, economic and cultural domain. They are forced to live in harsh conditions.
States are not ready to grant them citizenship due to which their basic rights are even violated which hamper their lives significantly. One example can be seen of the Palestinian refugees.
The ideal of citizenship not only involves the relationship between the state and the citizens but also involves the relationship among the different citizens of the nation.
The citizens have certain obligations towards their state as well as the other fellow citizens. The social behavior of the citizens is important for the development of the society.
The citizens have moral obligation to take part in the activities of the community and fulfil them in an efficient manner. Citizens are also considered to be the inheritors and trustees of the culture and other resources of the country.
The beginning of the Civil Rights Movements in the 1950s in America was due to the discrimination of the black people especially in the Southern States of the USA. The laws that promoted such kind of discrimination in these Southern States were known as the segregation laws which violated the political and civil rights of the people.
These laws segregated the schools, restaurants, public transports, housing areas and other amenities between the black and the white population.
The movement of the workers from one state to another generally takes place for employment reasons.
There are certain states that have high employment opportunities due to which there is large scale migration into such states. Like the state of Maharashtra and Delhi where workers from states like UP, Bihar and others migrate for employment.
The travelling of the workers to other states can put pressure on the already residing people who are searching jobs for themselves. This can sometimes lead to disputes.
There are several reasons due to which the local people resist the outsiders. Some of the reasons are: The primary reason is for the competition of jobs. Sometimes the outsiders get the job easily as compared to the local people as they are ready to work on lower wages. This leads a conflict between the two parties.
There are competition for the resources and facilities and help given by the state governments. This resistance also becomes the ground for politics by the leaders and achieve a political fervor.
The people in the slum face numerous problems ranging from sanitation facilities to exposure to hazards. People generally live in small rooms that even lack the presence of separate toilets. There is lack of availability of running water and basic sanitation facilities. The lives of the people and their property are insecure in a slum and people are generally involved in professions which are informal.
Marshall categorized the citizenship rights into three categories civil, political and social.
The civil rights are important for ensuring the protection of life, liberty and property of the individuals in a state.
The political rights like right to vote are important to make the citizens an important part of the political process in the nation.
The social rights are important to ensure that the person gets proper education and opportunity of employment.
The number of street vendors in cities is very large and in several cases they face harassment from the police and the other town authorities. This policy was formulated to give recognition to the rights of the street vendors and formalise the system of their functioning.
They were ensured protection from the harassment if they followed the orders of the government and complied with their regulations.
The Supreme Court gave a decision on a Public Interest Litigation filed by a social activist Olga Tellis on the rights of the slum dwellers.
In the petition there was demand of right to live in the slums in the places near to the livelihood of the workers in case of no alternative place to live. The Supreme Court under the Article 21 of the Constitution accepted that people have the right to livelihood. If the slum dwellers are to be evicted from their places then first they have to be provided with alternative accommodation. They cannot be arbitrarily deprived to their place of
living.
The Constitution of India grants the people right to freedom of expression and speech.
There are certain restrictions on this type of right, the protests should not be violent and should not cause any
threat to the society or destruction of any public place.
People can use the medium of media, form groups and hold demonstrations and rallies to influence the government and public authorities. However, all these things are to be done in a peaceful manner.
The people can also file petitions and cases in courts and courts can hear their grievances and declare its decision.
They can directly write to the government stating their demands and grievances which are to be solved by the government in some course of time.
The Part II of the Constitution deals with the different methods through which citizenship is granted to the people. It has been changed through Parliament laws as well. In India citizenship can be acquired by the individual through birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and incorporation of territories.
The concept of Nation states gained prominence during the seventeenth century after the era of enlightenment. This idea also gave birth to the idea of citizenship. The nation-state is seen as a sovereign body in which the people possess certain rights and liberties.
Some of the unique features of the nation-state are that they have defined boundaries, shared culture and unique history. These nation-states grant citizenship rights to their residents which give them a political identity in the nation and grants them certain rights.
The Indian Constitution made efforts to accommodate a very diverse section of society. It granted full and equal citizenship to the backward sections of the society like the Scheduled castes and the Scheduled tribes.
It gave respect to the ethnic diversity, distinct languages and culture of the people which develops a sense of brotherhood in the nation.
The increase in the interconnectedness of the world due to the progress in communication technology has given rise to the idea of global citizenship.
The advancements in communication technologies have increased awareness among the people about global events like wars, natural calamities, famine and many other catastrophes. This gives rise to sympathy among the global people.
The promoters of the idea of global citizenship feel that people of different nations are linked to each other on the grounds of humanity. The help offered by the world during the Tsunami in the South Asian region in 2004 shows the existence of a global community.
This interconnectedness between the different parts of the world has given the rise to the idea of global citizenship.