32 We need to appreciate the condition of both these categories of persons to give a full account of the crisis of citizenship in India and the pertinence of international legal norms. India has grappled with concerns over citizenship and migration since the founding experience of the Partition in 1947.11 The tumultuous history of dealing with refugees and migrants has also added to the debate on citizenship. The situation of Estate Tamils in Sri Lanka is one of the first instances of mass statelessness in the region. Over 900,000 persons were rendered stateless when Sri Lanka became independent.12 Around 300,000 ‘Biharis’ (or ‘stranded Pakistanis’) found themselves stateless when neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh granted them citizenship after the birth of Bangladesh in 1971.13 Myanmar has systematically deprived between 1 - 1.5 million Rohingya of nationality since the 1982 citizenship law came into force.14 India has long dealt with statelessness as these communities along with the Tibetans make a large percentage of asylum seekers in India who seek protection as stateless persons [see box].15 11 See Niraja Gopal Jayal, Citizenship and Its Discontents (HUP 2013) and Anupama Roy, Mapping Citizenship in India (OUP 2010). 12 Gerrard Khan, ‘Citizenship and Statelessness in South Asia’ (2001) Working Paper No. 47 <https:// www.refworld.org/pdfid/4ff565992.pdf> accessed 7 August 2020. The Estate Tamils were granted Sri Lankan citizenship in 2003. The report endorses this state practice as elaborated in the Status chapter. See Chetani Priyanga Wijetunga, ‘Feature: Sri Lanka makes citizens out of stateless tea pickers’ (UNHCR, 7 October 2004) <https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2004/10/416564cd4/featuresri-lanka-makes-citizens-stateless-tea-pickers.html> accessed 7 August 2020. 13 Khalid Hussian, ‘The end of Bihari statelessness’ (2009) 32 Forced Migration Review <https://www. fmreview.org/sites/fmr/files/FMRdownloads/en/statelessness/hussain.pdf> accessed 11 August 2020. In 2008, a Dhaka Court recognised the right to Bangladeshi nationality for a big portion of ‘Biharis’. See Minority Rights Group International, ‘Biharis’ (July 2018) <https://minorityrights.org/ minorities/biharis/> accessed 11 August 2020. 14 See UNHCR ‘Global Report 2019’ (2019) 4, 69, 113 <https://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/ gr2019/pdf/GR2019_English_Full_lowres.pdf> accessed 5 August 2020; Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘Statelessness in Numbers: 2020’ (2020) <https://files.institutesi.org/ISI_statistics_ analysis_2020.pdf> accessed 3 September 2020. 15 See UNHCR ‘Factsheet India’ (UNHCR, January 2020) <https://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/ UNHCR%20India%20factsheet%20-%20January%202020.pdf> accessed 14 July 2020; UNHCR ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019’ (2020) 73, 76 <https://www.unhcr.org/5ee200e37.pdf> accessed 11 July 2020; Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, ‘Annual Report 2018-19’ 244245 <https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/AnnualReport_English_01102019.pdf> accessed 17 July 2020; Tibet Justice Centre, ‘Tibet’s Stateless Nationals III: The Status of Tibetan Refugees in India’ (2016) 99 <https://www.bu.edu/law/files/2016/09/Tibets-Stateless-Nationals-II-FINAL-report. pdf> accessed 12 March 2020. See also Julia Meredith Hess, ‘Statelessness and the State: Tibetans, Citizenship, and Nationalist Activism in a Transnational World’ (2006) 44(1) International Migration 79. SECURING CITIZENSHIP