The term Article 5 is ambiguous, referring to significant concepts in both Indian law and international affairs, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s collective defence clause and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)'s prohibition on torture. For an Indian undergraduate student, the most foundational concept is Article 5 of the Constitution of India, a provision that defines citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution.
This provision was created on January 26, 1950, when the Constitution came into force, to solve the immediate problem of defining who would be a citizen of the newly formed Republic of India. It is the first article in Part II of the Constitution, which deals with citizenship.
Article 5 works by granting citizenship to every person who had their domicile in the territory of India at the commencement of the Constitution, provided they met one of three conditions: they were born in the territory of India; or either of their parents was born in the territory of India; or they had been ordinarily resident in India for not less than five years immediately preceding the commencement.
This provision connects directly to Articles 5 to 11 of the Constitution, which govern citizenship matters. It is also the basis upon which the Parliament enacted the Citizenship Act, 1955, which provides for the acquisition and termination of citizenship after the Constitution's commencement. As a transitional provision, Article 5’s function was completed upon the Constitution's commencement, and it has not been amended or replaced, remaining a historical definition of the initial citizenry. Parliament's power to legislate on citizenship is derived from Article 11.