In 2008, 69-year-old Mishra Devi was the first Indian to have a central government-issued smart card, providing proof of her national identity. She says that although she never used the document, she has preserved the “red card” as a souvenir.
Mishra and several hundred residents of his village – Pooth Khurd in north-west Delhi’s Bawana – were among the first few lakh people who were allotted Multipurpose National Identity Cards (MNICs) by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under a pilot project 17 years ago.
The card, with an embedded electronic chip, contained Mishra’s biometric details: 10 fingerprints, an iris scan, his photograph and thumb impression. It also had details like his name, date of birth, parents’ names, place of birth, place of issue and validity period of 10 years.
The issuing authority was the Registrar General of Citizens under the MHA, which determines citizenship in India. Under the pilot project, which concluded on 31 March 2009, 12.88 lakh MNICs were issued to citizens aged 18 years and above. Biometric data of about 30 lakh people was taken.
On August 12 this year, while replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Home Ministry did not specify the “categories of valid documents” required for people to prove citizenship in India. Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation MP Sudama Prasad had sought details.
“Citizenship of India is governed by the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the rules made thereunder,” Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply. Without specifying the acceptable documents, the reply stated that citizenship could be acquired “by birth (Section 3), by descent (Section 4), by registration (Section 5), by naturalization (Section 6), or by incorporation of the territory (Section 7)”.
determination of citizenship
The debate over citizenship and what documents are required to be called an Indian resurfaced when the Election Commission of India (EC) decided to conduct a special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar in June this year. Apart from cleaning and updating voter lists, one of the objectives of the exercise was to weed out illegal immigrants – a mandate from the Home Ministry.
According to the Election Commission’s June 24 order to implement SIR in Bihar, which is now being conducted in 12 other states and Union Territories, people can produce any of the 11 valid documents to be included in the voter list. It said residents whose parents’ names were included in the voter list of 2003, the last time SIR was conducted, can skip submitting the documents. The list of acceptable documents included birth certificate, passport, education certificate, but not Aadhaar card. After petitions in the Supreme Court, the Election Commission also agreed to accept the Aadhaar card. Since citizenship is the domain of the Home Ministry, the opposition parties challenged the Election Commission’s order to conduct such a drive in the name of cleaning the voter list.
In 2015, the then Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju informed Parliament that under the Citizenship Act, 1955, “the Central Government can compulsorily register every citizen of India and issue them (a) National Identity Card”. He said that accordingly, the Government has decided to create a National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC/NRC) by verifying the citizenship status of all people in the National Population Register (NPR).
Bharpai, a resident of Pooth Khurd village, does not remember where her MNIC card is, but says she has never used it. , Photo courtesy: Sushil Kumar Verma
Updating of details for NPR, which was to be done simultaneously with the first phase of Population Census 2027, has been put on hold. Citizenship of each person will be determined separately at the time of preparation of NRC, which is a subset of NPR.
NPR has a database of 119 crore residents of the country. Unlike the Census, where statistical data up to the village level is made public, NPR data is collected household-wise and can be shared with government agencies and states. NPR data was first collected in 2010 with the first phase of Population Census 2011. It was last updated in 2015.
The first phase of the census is to be conducted from April–October 2026; Pre-test is going on across the country from 10th to 30th November. Unlike previous instances, this time NPR related questions are not being asked or updated by the enumerators in the pre-test stage.
The updating of the NPR was halted following the riots and violence in 2019-20 following the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) by Parliament on December 9, 2019. There were fears and apprehensions that the CAA – which grants citizenship to members of six non-Muslim communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 – would be followed by a nationwide compilation of the NRC. Disenfranchisement of Muslims and undocumented Indians.
It was felt that while the CAA would come to the rescue of non-Muslims excluded from the NRC, the excluded Muslims would have to prove their citizenship. 83 people were killed in protests and riots in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Delhi from December 2019 to March 2020 after the CAA was passed.
Although the central government informed Parliament that “no decision has been taken so far to prepare an NRC at the national level” and denied that the CAA and NRC are linked, the Citizenship Rules 2003 under the Citizenship Act, 1955 – which enables the process – have neither been amended nor removed. No new law is required to conduct the NRC. Assam is the only state where the NRC was compiled on the orders of the Supreme Court. And 19 lakh out of 3.29 crore applicants were not included in the draft register.
In 2013, the then United Progressive Alliance government informed Parliament that the NPR is a register of residents: citizens as well as non-citizens. “The purpose of making the NPR is to include all ordinary residents of the country at a given time. The proposed Resident Identity (Smart) cards will not be proof of citizenship and will contain a disclaimer that the card does not confer any right of citizenship. Citizenship of each person will be determined separately at the time of preparation of the NRC.”
However, the idea of a unique identification system dates back to 2001 when the then Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani proposed the issue of MNIC. During a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Home Affairs on August 21, 2003, a presentation on behalf of the government cited the recommendation of a Group of Ministers on reforming the national security system.
“Illegal migration has become serious. There should be compulsory registration of citizens and non-citizens residing in India. This will facilitate preparation of a National Register of Citizens. All citizens should be given an MNIC,” it said. It says non-citizens should be issued identity cards of different colors and designs. It recommended that the exercise be started in border districts or the 20-km border belt and gradually extended to the rest of India.
a card as a memory
In her three-storey house in Pooth Khurd, where she has lived since 1974, Mishra recalls how she was invited to a school in 2008 and felicitated by a government official in the presence of the entire village. The street leading to his house is paved but there are open drains flowing on both sides.
When she was given the card, Mishra was told that she could use it to demand better civic amenities. Asked what the card can be used for, she says, “We were told that with this card we can get drinking water and it is also proof of our citizenship. I did not use it anywhere. Later, it was canceled and replaced with the Aadhaar card.”
Mishra has also preserved a ceremonial banner similar to the card that was given to him. She says, “This is for posterity. The coming generations should know that I was the first person to get this card.”
Over the past few years, the Aadhaar card issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has become ubiquitous with 100% saturation. The proposed NPR and pilot MNIC face uncertainty. A former MHA official involved in the pilot project says that the then government had decided to give primacy to Aadhaar over MNIC.
“We were asked to hand over all the biometric data collected during the pilot project to UIDAI. The biometric data was linked with Aadhaar to avoid duplication,” says the former official.
The effectiveness of Aadhaar card is now being disputed by the central government. During the hearing in the Supreme Court, EC said that Aadhaar is only a proof of identity and not of citizenship. Mishra’s son, Deepak Dabas, who works in a school, has kept the MNIC wrapped in plastic sheets along with other important documents in his cupboard. Deepak says, “The entire family got the cards. I was young then. The village head filled our details and all we had to do was give our biometrics at a camp organized by the authorities. The government did not take any money from us.” He further said that he has never used the card and knows that it has no value.
Rajbir Dabas, another resident of Pooth Khurd, said that he had lost the card while shifting to a new house, but he used it several times to his advantage. “The card had a prominent Ashoka symbol on the right side and ‘Republic of India’ inscribed on the top. If you showed it to anyone, they wouldn’t understand what it was. I used it several times at toll plazas to avoid paying tax because every time we showed the red card the attendants would get scared. They would think we were from the ministry.”
Rajbir Dabas of the same village, who used the card to avoid highway toll tax. , Photo courtesy: Sushil Kumar Verma
Another resident of the village, 67-year-old Bharpai, has a vague memory of MNIC. Battling age-related health problems, she is sitting on a cot on the terrace of her two-storey house. When asked about the card, Baifi, who is hard of hearing, says, “Yes, I got the card, but don’t remember where it is now. I never bothered to take care of it. I have my Aadhaar card.” She also says that she has never used it in her life.
About 500 meters away, at the Panchayat Bhawan, a group of men have gathered to play cards. Asked if he too has got an MNIC, Rajesh, one of the residents, says, “I have the card, but it is of no use. The electricity bill is more useful to us than this card. Now that you are asking about it, perhaps I will look for it. About 4,000 people in this village had got the card then,” he says, adding that he too had used the card to avoid paying toll tax on highways.
Mishra says he never thought of giving up the card. “Do you throw away any gifts?” She says she hopes it may someday be of use to her children and grandchildren.
vijaita.singh@thehindu.co.in
Edited by Sunalini Mathew
