Citizenship is a valued resource whose wide dispersal across the population enhances the resilience of a political system. While legal entitlement to citizenship under the laws of the land is a necessary condition, by itself it does not suffice for the individual to feel the full power and potential of citizenship. Other complementary factors such as rights, capacity, sentiments, and moral obligations enhance the sense of citizenship. A sample survey of 8,000 citizens shows a widely dispersed sense of citizenship that largely overcomes the differences resulting from social class, ethnicity, religion, gender and generation. However, the underlying variance, particularly at the level of citizenship across India's regions, reveals the political limits of the Indian model and the scope for policies at extending citizenship to sections of the population that are outside its reach.
