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Concept of Citizenship in Nepal

A state is a united form of territory, population, sovereignty and government. A state

should possess a qualification of permanent population (Article-1, Montevideo Convention).
Thus permanent population is an essential factor to be a state, but it is an unfixed component as
well. Different thinkers presented dissimilar views regarding the population of a state. The
population of a particular state is divided into different categories. Plato divided the population
of a state into guardian, auxiliary and producer class. He does not divide population into citizens
and non-citizens. Similarly, Aristotle divides population into citizen, alien and slaves (Aristotle,
p.175). Hence, the debate on population and citizenship arises from the ancient period and it has
been a more complicated issue in the current world.

According to T.H. Marshal, population is divided into citizen and non-citizen. The
citizens can obtain a status of citizenship and non-citizens cannot. A citizenship is a full
membership of a political community. The eligibility and ineligibility obtaining citizenship is
determined by the law of the concerned country. Citizenship obtaining criteria is varied country
to country. The issue of citizenship is disputed nearly all over the world, and Nepal also has a
disputed legal history on citizenship. The citizenship could not get a unanimous definition in the
different time period in the history of Nepal. Different definitions of citizens/citizenship can be
found in the different regimes of Nepal.

The constitutional and legal provision regarding citizenship is controversial for a long
time in Nepal. The citizenship law is not static in this country, when the political change occurs,
then there is made a change on the citizenship law as well. The law regarding citizenship has
been changed time to time in the period of 7 decades of its political and legal history. The
political parties, judiciary, law makers, civil society, journalists, intellectuals and conscious
people do not have unanimous view on citizenship. In the one hand there is vast disputed issue of
citizenship, and on the other hand no academic study has been conducted till the date. Thus, it is
timely to gear up an academic study on this issue. It is a pioneer study in this field.

Every study has its own distinct objectives. Similarly, the purpose of the study shall be as
following:
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-To trace the different definitions in regards of citizenship in the different regimes of
Nepal,

-To find out the underlying causes on the definition of citizenship in the different
definitions in the different regimes of Nepal,

-To explore the debated definitions on citizenship law at the present time of Nepal,

-To discover the causes that why the political parties are divided in the definition of
citizenship.

This study shall be conducted remaining under the liberal, and communitarian theories of
citizenship while analyzing the literature.

The ontology of the study shall be supposed as constructed reality, similarly

epistemology is constructivism and axiology is facilitator. This study shall be conducted on the
descriptive research design and qualitative approach. Mainly, primary texts shall be analyzed and
compared in this study. The constitutional and legal provisions of different countries including
Nepal, and canonical texts shall be booked as the primary text in this study. Some intellectuals,
legal experts, campaigner, and politicians shall be selected purposively for interview, and the
questionnaire shall be as unstructured. All the financial burden shall be endured by the researcher
solely and it shall be completed within a year till the date of proposal approval.

Prepared by

SK Timilsina