8th Standard, Social, POLITICAL SCIENCE, CHAPTER – 8
CITIZEN AND CITIZENSHIP
EXERCISES
I. Fill in the blanks with suitable words:
1 The people living in India under the British rule were termed as subjects.
2 A temporarily residing foreigner in our country is called an alien.
3 Citizenship Act was passed in the year 1955.
4 The method through which you have acquired citizenship is Citizenship by birth.
II Answer the following questions in brief:
5 What is citizenship?
Answer: Citizenship refers to the legal status of being a permanent member of a sovereign state, which grants individuals full rights and imposes responsibilities like obeying laws and paying taxes and possesses civil and political rights and owes allegiance to the state to which he belongs.
6 What are the benefits enjoyed by a citizen?
Answer: The benefits enjoyed by a citizen are as follows.
- He enjoys security and gets protection from the State.
- He enjoys a peaceful life as the state ensures law and order.
- In modern times under social welfare schemes he enjoys benefits like education, health, insurance, settlement, employment and such others provided by the state.
- He enjoys both the civil and political rights.
- He enjoys the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.
- He can participate in the Political processes like voting and contesting in the elections.
- He is eligible to occupy certain offices such as those of the President of India, Vice-President, Judge of Supreme court, High Courts and such others.
- He is eligible for recruitment to all public services.
7 Name the body which has the authority to legislate the laws on citizenship in India.
Answer: Parliament is the sole authority to legislate the laws on citizenship in our country.
8 Mention the methods of acquiring citizenship.
Answer: There are two methods of acquiring citizenship. They are as follows.
1. Natural Citizenship
2. Naturalised Citizenship
9 Explain the citizenship by naturalization.
Answer: Citizenship can also be acquired through naturalization. According to this method, an alien can become a citizen after fulfilling certain conditions. Though these conditions vary from state to state.
10 What are the methods of losing citizenship?
Answer: The methods of losing citizenship are as follows.
1. Renunciation: Any Indian citizen can renounce his citizenship voluntarily by submitting an application before the concerned authority.
2. Termination: If any citizen of India acquires the citizenship of any other country his Indian citizenship is terminated by law. This procedure does not require the submission of any application.
3. Deprivation: If any person has obtained the citizenship of India by fraud or if he/she has indulged in anti-national activities or shown disloyalty towards the Constitution of India, the government of India deprives him/her of his/her citizenship. It is forced termination.
11 Mention a situation under which citizenship is terminated.
Answer: The situations under which citizenship is terminated are as follows.
- If any citizen of India acquires the citizenship of any other country his Indian citizenship is terminated by law. This procedure does not require the submission of any application.
- If any person has obtained the citizenship of India by fraud or if he/she has indulged in anti-national activities or shown disloyalty towards the Constitution of India, the government of India deprives him/her of his/her citizenship. It is forced termination.
12 Mention the types of citizenship and write the differences between them.
Answer: There are two types of citizenship. They are single citizenship and dual citizenship.
The differences between single citizenship and dual citizenship are as follows.
- Single citizenship: People have only one citizenship that is National citizenship irrespective of the province that they belongs to.
Dual citizenship: Dual citizenship is a system of having separate citizenship for a nation and a state.
- Single citizenship: There is no separate state citizenship bifurcation in to single and dual for example India. For example we live in Karnataka but we have Indian Citizenship.
Dual citizenship: A person is citizen of the state in which he resides as well as citizen of that nation. For example, dual citizenship exists in the USA where there is a federal state system. If citizen live in state of New-Jersey, he has citizenship of the state of New-Jersey. Along with that there is citizenship of the USA.
13 What are the duties of a citizen towards his nation?
Answer: The duties of a citizen towards his nation are as follows.
- He must respect the Constitution and obey the laws of the government.
- He must protect the national honour and dignity by his words and deeds.
- He must not indulge in anti-national activities.
- He must oppose and check the evil practices like corruption, nepotism, dowry, child marriage, etc., through constitutional means.
- He must take part in the political activities of the state as the quality of the government depends on the quality of citizens.
- He must place the national interest above the personal interest and work for national progress.
- He must be service minded and must be prepared to sacrifice for the sake of nation.
- He has the obligation like paying taxes and defending the nation.
Additional Questions:
- What are the methods of acquiring citizenship in India?
Answer: The methods of acquiring citizenship in India are as follows.
1. Citizenship by birth
2. Citizenship by descent
3. Citizenship by registration
4. Citizenship by naturalization
5. Citizenship by the incorporation of a new territory
2. What are the conditions for an alien to acquire citizenship through naturalization?
Answer: The conditions for an alien to acquire citizenship through naturalization are as follows.
a) Domicile or Residence: Long residence in a foreign state entitles a person to acquire the citizenship of that state.
b) Marriage: A woman acquires the citizenship of her husband’s country when she marries a foreigner. But the husband does not get the citizenship of his wife’s country.
c) Foreign service: A person appointed in the government service of a foreign state may be granted the citizenship of that country.
d) Application: In all states an alien may be granted citizenship if he applies for it and satisfies certain conditions.
e) Property: A person who purchases property in a foreign country, desires to become a citizen of that country may be granted the citizenship.
3. What are the differences between the citizen and alien?
Answer: The differences between the citizen and alien are as follows.
1. Citizens are permanent residents of their state. Aliens are temporary residents or tourists.
2. Citizens enjoy political rights, aliens are not given political rights like right to vote, right to contest election, right to hold public offices etc. These are not enjoyed by an alien.
3. Citizens owe allegiance to their state. An alien is a foreigner who is a citizen of another state. He should respect and follow the laws of the state in which he is temporarily living.
4. But citizen cannot be driven out of his state. An alien can be asked to leave the country of temporary residence for various reasons such as illegal activities, expiry of visa period, etc.
III Activities:
1 Prepare a pictorial representation of the fundamental duties and exhibit it in your school.
2 Discuss the benefits of fundamental rights under the guidance of your teacher.
3 Discuss the importance of right to equality and right to freedom in India (under the guidance of your teacher).
4 Prepare a pictorial chart showing the methods of acquiring and losing citizenship and exhibit it in your classroom.
5 Discuss the benefits of single citizenship in India.
6 Supposing the dual citizenship as in US is introduced in India, how does it benefit us? Discuss.
IV Projects:
1 Collect information from the newspapers and magazines about the violation of fundamental rights and the remedial measures taken.
2 Collect information from the authorities concerned about the procedure to be followed by an Indian if he wants to stay in a foreign country for a short period of time.
