Citizenship: Rights and Duties
Class 8th
NCERT
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Citizenship: Rights and Duties
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Table of Contents
- Who Is a Citizen?
- Rights
- Duties
- Rights and Duties: Two Sides of the Same Coin
- Discrimination
- Inclusion
Who Is a Citizen?
- A citizen is someone who legally belongs to a country and is a member of its political community, meaning they can participate in the decision-making of the country.
- In a democracy, citizenship gives rights such as voting, free speech, and living and working safely, but these rights have limits.
- Citizens also have duties such as obeying the law, paying taxes, respecting others, and helping keep society safe.
- Citizenship is both a legal identity and a social responsibility: as a legal identity, it formally connects people to their country, while as a social responsibility, it creates a sense of belonging and unites people through shared values, rights, and duties.
- Living in a place makes a person a resident, but citizenship is a formal, legal membership in a country; not every resident is a citizen, a person can be a resident without being a citizen, and a citizen may reside in another country.
- Citizenship involves active participation, including fulfilling duties such as paying taxes, helping others in need, and protecting the environment.
- Citizenship also grants rights, including the power to question unfair practices, stand up for what is right, and help shape the future of society.
- In India, all citizens are equal under the Constitution, despite differences of language, religion, or culture.
- The Citizenship Act, 1955, and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, set the rules for gaining or losing citizenship.
- This chapter explores what it means to be a citizen of India through four concepts: rights, duties, discrimination, and inclusion.
- Rights are freedoms such as equality, free speech, religion, and education that allow people to live with dignity.
- Discrimination means unfair treatment based on identity, and citizens must stand against it.
- Duties are responsibilities such as obeying laws, paying taxes, keeping surroundings clean, and helping others.
- Inclusion means ensuring that no one is left out because of language, religion, culture, ethnicity, caste, or gender; it is an affirmative way to ensure non-discrimination.