אזרחות לפי מוצא - כל אחד מההורים (אחרי 1992)

Eligibility requires: (1) birth OUTSIDE India; (2) date of birth on or after 10 December 1992; and (3) EITHER parent being a citizen of India 'at the time of his birth' (s4(1)(b)) — the mother or the father may transmit. The SECOND PROVISO conditions the claim where either transmitting parent was a citizen 'by descent only': the child is not a citizen unless (a) the birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year of its occurrence or on/after 10 December 1992, whichever is later (or later with Central Government permission), or (b) either parent is in service under a Government in India at the birth (/031). By s4(3), a commencement-cohort person born outside undivided India is deemed a citizen 'by descent only', triggering the proviso on their children. A parent who is a citizen by birth, registration or naturalisation transmits WITHOUT the proviso conditions (the generational brake). For births on/after 3 December 2004, the additional post-2004 provisos and the s4(1A) minor dual-citizen auto-cessation trap also bite (see IN-DSC-03). Present retention is subject to s9(1) no-dual loss.

Where either parent is a citizen not 'by descent only', citizenship by descent vests at birth. Where a transmitting parent is a citizen 'by descent only', the SECOND PROVISO makes consular registration a condition precedent: registration at an Indian consulate (s2(1)(d)) within one year of the birth or on/after 10 December 1992, whichever is later, curable late only with Central Government permission; alternatively the government-service limb applies where either parent is in service under a Government in India. Section 4(2) deems a birth registered with permission where the Central Government so directs, even absent prior permission. For births on or after 3 December 2004, the THIRD proviso makes consular registration in the prescribed form mandatory for ALL s4 descent births, and the FOURTH proviso requires the parents to declare that the minor does not hold a foreign passport (the declaration form is prescribed under s18(2)(aa)). Proof rests on the transmitting parent's Indian citizenship at the birth date, the foreign birth record, and the consular registration/declaration where required; s13 certification resolves doubt. Later voluntary foreign acquisition triggers automatic loss under s9(1), and the s4(1A) trap independently ends a post-2004 minor's citizenship absent timely renunciation of the other nationality.

IN-DSC-02 rests on section 4(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act 1955: 'A person born outside India shall be a citizen of India by descent,.. (b) on or after the 10th day of December, 1992, if either of his parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth.' This is the gender-equalising either-parent reform introduced by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1992 (Act 39 of 1992, substituting 'any person' for 'any male person', w.e.f. 10-12-1992), replacing the pre-1992 patrilineal rule (/017). The clause is qualified by the SECOND PROVISO to s4(1): where either parent was a citizen 'by descent only', the child is not a citizen unless the birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year (or on/after 10 December 1992, whichever is later) or either parent is in service under a Government in India. For births on or after 3 December 2004, the THIRD and FOURTH provisos (mandatory consular registration + no-foreign-passport parental declaration) and s4(1A) additionally apply (the overlap zone with IN-DSC-03). The current s4(1) wording is the Act 6/2004-substituted text; the either-parent rule is continuously operative from 10 December 1992 to the present (as of 2026-07).

Primary authority: Citizenship Act 1955 s4(1)(b) with the second proviso, s4(2) and s4(3) (IN-PRIMARY-02); the either-parent rule is anchored by the Act 39 of 1992 substitution of 'any person' for 'any male person' (s4(3) amendment footnote, line 213). The Constitution Arts 10-11 (IN-PRIMARY-01) supply Parliament's citizenship power; Arts 5-8 define the commencement cohort that s4(3) deems 'descent-only'. The Supreme Court of India is the apex authority; no supranational layer exists. POSITIVE DISCONFIRMATION: no reported apex determination in the Evidence Table directly construes s4(1)(b) either-parent descent; Izhar Ahmad Khan (AIR 1962 SC 1052) concerns s9 loss (foreign-passport proof), relevant to retention rather than to s4 acquisition. No directly-on-point descent precedent is asserted; the rule is applied on settled statutory text, and the 1992 gender-equalisation is established from the amendment footnote.