2021 STATELESSNESS AND THE CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT, 2019 191 and Goreau-Ponceaud’s discussion, mobility, freedom, and normalcy are features that the urban poor, Dalits, and Adivasis enjoy on paper whereas CampRefugees do not.246 Additionally, Camp-Refugees enjoy little to no rights compared to Indian citizens. Notable exceptions are Articles 14 and 21 which apply to all persons irrespective of citizenship.247 For instance, Camp-Refugees are not entitled to civil and political rights like voting,248 holding office,249 freedom of speech,250 or equal access to public employment.251 Even for socio-economic aspects like housing or food, they remain at the government’s mercy, or vulnerable to withdrawal of benefits on account of resource crunches.252 For instance, in Gnanaprakasam,253 the petitioner was a Camp-Refugee invoking Article 21254 because his children’s engineering admission had been rejected. The court responded by saying that educational or other concessions for refugees were at the discretion of the State, which could not be claimed as a matter of right. Further, the court explicitly stated that Camp-Refugees should not try and claim equality of rights with citizens.255 This discussion finds that rights and citizenship are increasingly becoming disaggregated in India. Although ethnic belongingness promises access to some rights through support from the State and the community, the continued significance of formal citizenship lies over the Camp-Refugees since they cannot realise any rights in India. Thus, only formal Indian citizenship seems to promise the secure presence of, and rights for, Camp-Refugees. 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 Somasundaram ‘The Sri Lankan Refugee Crimes and Crisis: Experience and Lessons Learnt from South India’ [2019] 2 Journal of Victimology and Victim Justice. This discussion does not discount or minimise the hardships that the mentioned groups have experienced in realizing their rights in India, and their socio-political exclusions from the mainstream, and their erasure from public life; the intent is merely to indicate that formal citizenship can help in moving courts for realising rights, and that there is a mismatch of rights with formal citizenship status. For instance, marginalised groups have found limited spaces in mainstream politics through the campaign on the rights to food and to work by claiming these rights by the fact of their citizenship as in Reetika Khera, Democratic Politics and Legal Rights: Employment guarantee and food security in India, IEG Working Paper No 327 (2013). See generally, Malischewski (n 13); Nicolas Jaoul and Alpa Shah, Beyond citizenship: Adivasi and Dalit political pathways in India [2016] 76 Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology 3. Constitution of India 1950, art 14, art 21; Louis De Raedt (n 120). Representation of the People Act 1951, s 62. Constitution of India 1950, art 58 (1)(a), art 66 (2); art 124 (3); art 217 (2); art 157. Constitution of India 1950, art 19. Constitution of India 1950, art 16. Miriam George, ‘Sri Lankan Tamil Refugee Experiences: A Qualitative Analysis’ [2013] 6 International Journal of Culture and Mental Health 170. Gnanaprakasam (n 244). Constitution of India 1950, art 21. Gnanaprakasam (n 244).