Reconfiguring citizenship in contemporary india

Abstract

In this paper the author revisits her book, Citizenship and Its Discontents: An Indian History (2013), to examine its central themes—status, rights and identity—in relation to political developments in India since 2014. The paper argues and provides evidence for, firstly, the greater consolidation of a jus sanguinis citizenship regime, with an attenuation of religion-neutral laws of citizenship; secondly, a shift from a rights-based conception of social citizenship to a contributory approach to welfare, now burdened with the requirement of a biometric identity; and, finally, the routinisation and normalisation of identitarian violence against Dalits and Muslims, rendering their citizenship even more precarious.