808 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
a resident of India for five years. All these clauses are subject to a general limitation, viz., that they have not voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign State.
With regard to the last class viz., persons who are residing abroad but who or whose parents were born in India, they are covered by my article 5-B which refers to persons who or whose parents or whose grandparents were born in India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935, who are ordinarily residing in any territory outside India—they are called Indians abroad. The only limitation that has been imposed upon them is that they shall make an application if they want to be citizens of India before the commencement of the Constitution to the Consular Officer or to the Diplomatic Representative of the Government of India in the form which is prescribed for the purpose by the Government of India and they must be registered as citizens. Two conditions are laid down for them—one is an application and secondly, registration of such an applicant by the Consular or the Diplomatic representative of India in the country in which he is staying. These are as I said very simple matters.
We now come to the two categories of persons who were residents in India who have migrated to Pakistan and those who were resident in Pakistan but have migrated to India. The case of those who have migrated to India from Pakistan is dealt with in my article 5-A. The provisions of article 5-A are these—
Those persons who have come to India from pakistan are divided into two categories—
(a) those who have come before the 19th day of July 1948, and
(b) Those who have come from Pakistan to India after the 19th July 1948.
Those who have come before 19th July 1948, will automatically become the citizens of India.
With regard to those who have come after the 19th July
1948, they will also be entitled to citizenship on the date of the commencement of the Constitution, provided a certain procedure is followed, viz., he again will be required to make an application to an Officer appointed by the Government of the Dominion of India and if that person is registered by that Officer on an application so made.