- India as a country is a diverse, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-layered labyrinthine society is stating the obvious. Of course, one cannot fail to mention the caste conundrum that rules society in such a significant manner at every step and turn. The deeply entrenched caste system rules, despite the Constitutionally mandated rights specifically mentioning neutrality of class, creed, caste, language, ethnicity, and religion, in no uncertain terms. No wonder, the never-ending clamour for reservations and quotas keeps increasing by the day. What about the identification/documentation scenario in the country to establish the bonafide citizenship rights of the citizens? Let’s dwelve deep to comprehend the matter.
PC: India TV News
- As is their wont, the political class is always up for issues that would provide them an opportunity to impress/further strengthen their assiduously built vote banks. We keep hearing about the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the citizenship amendment act (CAA), and the ilk from time to time. It leaves us wondering how, in a conglomeration of diversities that’s India, a multiplicity of documents to prove citizenship makes sound sense. For the uninitiated, the NRC now appears to be placed on the back burner, going by the look of things. Census 2027’s headcount won’t include a national population register, the parent body for an NRC, as the theme itself dropped from the NDA/BJP’s Lok Sabha poll manifesto.
PC: Citizens for Justice and Peace
- Further, India by design does not mandate citizenship proof, and by extension, has no single document as proof of citizenship. Instead, given the nation’s plurality, caste networks, and marriage ties, waves of refugee influx, pockets of intense poverty, and patchy access to state institutions, New Delhi framed the citizenship law in terms of conditions met, not documentary evidence. An example of this fluidity is in voter rights, normally reserved for citizens, extended to those born in India to Tibetan refugee parents. A bunch of govt-issue IDs in various combinations can satisfy the criteria to prove citizenship. NRC in Assam showed the challenge it is for many to show they’re Indian. Alleged immigrants had legitimate documents, and locals felt no need.
PC: Dreamstime.com
- Also, CAA confused the NRC in operation. Given India’s layered multitudes of ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, sub-nationality has been more of the people’s anchor. National borders are the most artificial of constructs, ask kith-kin-caste groups at the UP-Bihar-Bengal/Nepal border, villagers at Punjab/Pak border, communities in northeast-Myanmar and Bengal-Bangladesh borders. Citizenship serves political purposes that a single documentary proof can weaponize. Thus, Aadhaar went from being designed as proof of identity for welfare measures to attempts to make it proof of citizenship, only to return as proof of identity. In conclusion, it can be safely mentioned that there’s no harm in rules that accept a multiplicity of documents. It’s logical.
