Document-driven processes such as the proposed National Register of Citizens are likely to place the heaviest burden on Adivasis and Muslims
Among the many conceits of the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens is this: that only “illegal immigrants" need fear not having the proper documentation. News reporting from Assam has exposed repeatedly that this is not necessarily the case, with women and the poor bearing the brunt of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in that state.
Official India data suggests that even at an all-India level, when it comes to paperwork, the poor and marginalized are most likely to be further marginalized by any process that demands legacy data (which prove ancestry) or documentation. The prime example is the birth certificate, which the richest and the most privileged social groups are likely to possess, according to data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), which recorded the responses of more than half a million respondents to a range of questions relating to health and demographics in 2015-16.
As of 2015-16, 80% of children under the age of five had their births registered (meaning that the birth had been registered with the municipality or panchayat’s Registrar, typically by the hospital). However, just 62% had birth certificates, the legal document under the Registration of Birth and Deaths (RBD) Act 1969 that the Registrar gives to the child’s legal guardian if they request it.
Please click here to read more.