State Autonomy, Nationality Question and Self-Determination in India– Response of the State

The key concepts in this paper are ‘state autonomy’, ‘self-determination ’ and ‘nationality’. This section will, therefore, make an attempt at conceptualizing the aforesaid terms. As far as the concept of ‘nationality ’ is concerned, it may be observed that although ‘nationality ’ is commonly understood as a derivative of ‘nation’, it can describe a different phenomenon. In Central Europe, the difference between the words ‘national ’ and ‘nationality ’ developed into a very significant distinction, viz., between the ‘nation-state ’ on the one hand and the ‘state of nationalities ’ on the other. The first stood for one-nation state and the second for multi-national state. This became a hotly debated issue between the leading nation and national minorities in the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. The official terminology in the communist states has interpreted ‘nation ’ as the majority ethnic group in a state and ‘nationality ’ a