Through the Indian constitution is federal and envisages a dual polity (Centre and state). It provides for only a single citizenship, that is the Indian citizenship. The citizen of India owe allegiance only to the Union. There is no separate state citizenship. The other federal states like USA and Switzerland, on the other hand, adopted the system of double citizenship. Profile – Citizenship – Know India: National Portal of India

In USA each person is not only a citizen of USA but also of the particular state to which he belongs. Thus, he owes allegiance to both and enjoys dual sets of rights -one conferred by the national government and another by the state government. This system creates the problem of discrimination, that is, a state may discriminate in Favour of its citizens in matters like rights to vote, right to hold public offices, right to practice professions and so on. This problem is avoided in the system of single citizenship Explain citizenship of India and citizenship act 1955 – Polity of India prevalent in India.

In India all citizens irrespective of the state in which they are born or reside enjoy the same political and civil rights of citizenship all over the country and no discrimination is made between them. However,

some exceptions case in absence of discrimination of single citizenship viz,

• The parliament (under article 16) can prescribe residence within a state or union territory as for condition for certain employments or appointments in that state or union territory, or local authority or other authority within that state and union territory. Accordingly, the parliament enacted the public employment (requirement as to residence) Act, 1957, and thereby authorized the government of India to prescribe residential qualification only for appointment to non-Gazetted posts in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura. As this act expired in 1974, there is no such provision for any state except Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• The constitution (under article 15) prohibits discrimination against any citizen on ground of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth and not on the ground of residence. This means that the state can provide special benefits or give preference to its residents in matter that do not come within the purview of the rights given by the constitution to the Indian citizens for example, a state may offer concession in fees for education to its residents.
• The freedom of movement and residence (under article 19) is subjected to the protection of interests of any schedule tribe. In other words, the rights of outsiders to entre, reside and settle in tribal area is restricted. Of course, this done to protect the distinctive culture, language, customs and manners of schedule tribes and to safeguard their traditional vocational and property against exploitation.
• Till 2019, the legislature of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was empowered to
• Define the persons who are permanent residents of the state, and
• Centre any special rights and privileges on such permanent residents as respects: 1-employment under the state government 2- acquisition of immovable property in the State 3-settlement in the state; and 4-right to scholarships and such other forms of aid provided by the state government.

The above provision was based on article 35-A of the constitution of India. This article was inserted In the constitution by “the constitution (application to Jammu and Kashmir) order 1954” this order was issued by the president under article 370 of the constitution which had provided a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. In 2019, this special status was abolished by a new presidential order known as “The constitution (application to Jammu and Kashmir) order, 2019” this order superseded the earlier 1954 order.

The constitution of India, like that of Canada, has introduced the system of single citizenship and provided uniform rights (excepts in few cases) for the people of India to promote the feeling of fraternity and unity among them and to build an integrated Indian nation. Despite this, India has been witnessing the communal riots, class conflicts, caste, wars, linguistic clashes and ethnic disputes. Thus the cherished goal of the founding fathers and the constitution-makers to build an United and integrated Indian has not been fully realized.