The price of proving citizenship

Most commentators have been so focussed upon the religious identity politics of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) - cum National Register of Citizens (NRC)-National Population Register (NPR) that insufficient attention has been devoted to the ways in which this could be a multiplier for corruption. It is not difficult, however, to understand why the processes of implementation will enable corruption. It is also easy to extrapolate from there to understand that the corruption will disproportionately affect the poor, and that there is likely to be a sliding scale of charges that will be based on religious identity. 
We still don't know what documentation would be considered sufficient to prove somebody is a citizen. There have been many contradictory statements made on this issue by many central ministers.  Logic would suggest that any of voter identity card and passport should be sufficient.  After all, these are supposedly issued only to citizens and, if for argument's sake, the voter ID doesn't prove citizenship, the 2019 elections were a sham. The citizenship status of millions of non-resident Indians and Indians travelling abroad is also questionable.

 
In addition to these two documents, which are only issued to citizens, a record of government service, which comes with identity papers, issued by the government should be sufficient. But central ministers have said in public statements that these documents may not be acceptable. Nor is the Permanent Account Number (PAN) or the Aadhar — although both can be issued to resident non-citizens but supposedly distinguish between citizens and others.
 
The Assam NRC excludes almost 2 million persons in a state which has a population of 35 million. The vast majority of the excluded are Hindus. Many are former government servants, including retired defence personnel.  Since my father's family hails from Silchar, in the Barak Valley, I happen to know quite a few of the excluded individuals. Some to my personal knowledge are Hindus, who are also retired government servants with passports and voter IDs.

 

So what documentation is acceptable? Municipal birth certificates cover only about 80 per cent of people born in the 21st century and even fewer in preceding decades. It is a joke in bad taste to ask for proof of birth of people born before say, 1990. About 75 per cent of Indians lived in villages prior to that date and most lack birth certificates. Ownership of land should be acceptable but not everyone owns land.  Most people don't. School certificates may be acceptable, but nearly 30 per cent of India was illiterate in 2011. At this instant, therefore, the list of acceptable documents remains unclear. 

I presume that whenever the list of acceptable criteria is released, it will offer some powers of discretion to local officials to accept documentation. It will also probably offer an “out” clause, where local politicians or Gazetted officers can vouch for individuals.  The passport verification system works on that basis. Those powers of discretion and the MLA certificates are broadly fungible and available on the basis of payment. An entire service industry that expedites passport issuances works, because of that fungibility.

Passport is an important document. Applicants most often need it for some economic purpose or another, ranging from going abroad to study to work related stuff.  They are prepared to pay speed money to smoothen the processes. Those who need them more, pay more.  Those who lack supporting documents to avoid immigration clearance, pay more. A graduate going for a Master of Business Administration in the US will pay much less than a mechanic looking to get to a construction job in the Gulf.

 
If passports are important, proof of citizenship, whatever that is, is even more important. Lack of a passport will hamper economic prospects. Lack of proof of citizenship will land somebody in a detention centre.  The going rate will, therefore, be higher. It will be even higher for those who made the mistake of being born into a religion this government doesn't like.  It will be even higher for the landless, rural poor born beyond the pale.  The corruption that accompanies this exercise of enumeration will exceed anything we've ever seen.