Citizenship and Its Discontents

Nullification of citizenship: negotiating authority without identity documents in coastal Odisha, India

“…One ex-Sarpanch went as far as to say, 'Maybe the central government wanted to list the Muslim people who came to India after 1971, but the central government got it wrong'. In this respect, an interesting parallel can be drawn with the case of Hindu migrants from Pakistan into border districts in the western state of Rajasthan discussed by Jayal (2013). Here circumstances unfolded differently with ration cards being distributed at state organised citizenship camps back in 1972, and then later in 2005, though not everyone received a ration card.…”

“…Any consideration of citizenship and citizenship politics in India must start at the Partition, the discussions leading up to the constitutional settlement and the constitution itself. Various scholars have argued that elements of jus sanguinis were present from the start despite the formal pledge to a jus soli conception of citizenship (Jayal 2013;Rodrigues 2008;Sadiq 2009). Jayal's authoritative work, in particular, shows that despite the constitutional endorsement of a secular jus soli conception of citizenship, the 'idea of the natural citizen' remained 'Hindu and male ' (2013, 53).…”

“…My paper examines the wider politics of the case through which ordinary life is upturned and renegotiated from an uncertain legal but also social and moral point of view. Its purpose is to show how the binary between formal (as legal) and substantive (in the sense of belonging, identity and access to state services) citizenship is a tenuous one (see also Jayal 2013, Holston 2008 for related debates), and that the need for securing the former in order to access the latter is a very real one for many around the world.…”

Democracy and human development: recent legislation in India

“…Previously, civil and political rights were prominent; now social and economic rights are articulated vigorously. Previously, citizens were reminded of their ‘duties’ with regard to the country's development; now the citizen is seen as a ‘rights‐bearing agent’ (Jayal, : 176) when it comes to receiving welfare: a significant step towards democratisation.…”

“…Indian policy‐makers emphasise successes in achieving growth and development (Sinha and Dorschner, ). However, India's aspirations to become a ‘global economic superpower, makes abysmal poverty aesthetically and morally offensive … poor performance on human development indicators cohabits uneasily with its impressive performance on economic indicators’ (Jayal, : 174‐75). Domestic problems like massive corruption, poor infrastructure, terrorism and insurgency threatens such aspirations (Narlikar, : 1612‐13).…”