Protests and their history
A Happy New Year to all. While I would have loved to start on a better note, situations are the way they are. Before starting with the prickly process of NPR, NRC let me just focus on the protests themselves. Now protests either in India or abroad are not a new thing. While thinking on this, I found one of the modern, medieval recorded entries of protests to be in 12th century Paris, and just like most strikes, this one was for rights of liberty, freedom and price increase. The famous or infamous University of Paris strike 1229 , There have been so many strikes and protests worldwide which changed the world, in recent memory the protests against American involvement in Vietnam , The Montgomery bus boycott by Rosa Parks , the protests that I became aware in South Africa, UCT about Rhodes must fall movement . I would be forever grateful to Bernelle for sharing with us the protests that had happened the year before near the Sarah Bartman Hall. Closer home i.e. in India, we have had a rich history of protests especially during the Colonial period and the Indian Freedom movement, as well as afterwards, i.e. after india became free. Whether it was the Navnirman Andolan or the Great Bombay Textile Strike which actually led to industries moving out of Mumbai. My idea of sharing above strikes and protests has been that protests are not a new thing in India and have been part of India socio-political culture throughout its history. I am sure there were also protests during the medieval period but not going that far as it would not add value to the post currently. It may be a good idea to share about that in some other blog post perhaps.
The protests against NPR, NRC and CAA
So, let’s start with what these acronyms are and why people are protesting are against it . The first acronym is National Population Register (NPR) . Now while the Government says that NPR is nothing but the census which is done by GOI every year, there is a difference. There are few things which make it different from earlier years, those are, birth certificates, ‘date and birth of parents’ and ‘last place of residence’ . The problem starts and ends with these two points for NPR apart from biometric information which again has issues, both for rich and poor alike . Let me explain what is the problem therein, using my own use-case or history which probably can be multiplied by probably millions of people of my age and lesser and elder to me.
Now one could ask naively, what is wrong in birth certificates, in theory and today’s day and age, perhaps not, but everything has a context and a time and place. While I was born in Pune, in 1975, the Registration and Births Act had been recently passed in 1969. So neither the Municipal Corporation of that time was active and nor was that a statutory requirement in those times. To add to that, my mother had to go at least 10-15 times to the Municipal Corporation in order to secure my birth certificate even though there was no name. This brings to another issue, in those times, almost till date, the mortality rate of newborns have been high. While we have statistics of the last 20 odd years which do show some change, one can only guess what the infant mortality rates would have been in the 60’s and the 70’s . Apart from that, most deliveries happened at home with a mid-wife rather than in a nursing home. This is still the norm today in many cities and hinterland as well. Recently, there was news of 100 babies who died in Kota, Rajasthan. While earlier they were being given clean chits, it seems most neonatal units which should house only one child were housing three children. Hence the large number of deaths. Probably, most of the parents were poor and the administration while showing that each child was given a separate neonatal unit were put together. The corruption whether in Indian public or private hospitals deserves its own blog post. I had shared some of it in the blog post no country for women or doctors.
But that apart, in those days because babies died, many children didn’t get the name till s/he was of kinder-garden, school going age. In my situation was a bit more different and difficult as my parents had separated and there was possibility that my father may go for a custody battle which never happened. Now apart from proving my own identity even though I have all the papers, I might still need to procure more, I would need papers or documentation proving the relationship between mother and I . Now I can’t produce father because he is no more apart from his death certificate, with my mother, I would have to get and submit most probably a DNA test which is expensive to say the least. I know of some labs who also charge depending upon many genetic markers you are looking for, the more the better and costs go up like that. Now here itself two questions arise with the NPR itself.
a. How many children would have proper birth certificates, more so the ones who live either below poverty line or just above ? Many of them don’t have roof over their head or have temporary shelters, where would they have place to get and put such documents. Also, as many of them cannot either read or write, they are usually suspicious of Government papers (and with good reason) . Time and again, the Government of the day has promised one thing and done another. Mostly to do with property rights and exclusion. Why to go far, just a few days back Sonam wangchuck, the engineer, who shared his concerns about Ladakh and the fragile ecosystem of Ladakh in Himalayas due to unchecked ‘development’ as been promised by the Prime Minister bringing it par to Delhi. Sadly, many people do not know that Himalayas is the youngest geologically speaking while the oldest are in South Africa (thanks to Debconf for that bit of info. as well.) . While they celebrate the political freedom from Kashmir, they do have concerns as being with Kashmir, they enjoyed land rights and rights to admission to Indians and foreigners alike, this they have now lost. A region which is predominantly buddhist in nature is being introduced to sex tourism and massage parlours which are not needed. If possible, people should see Mr. Wangchuk’s talk on Ted talks or any of the work the gentleman has done but this is getting off-topic here.
b. What about people of my age or above me. Would all of us would become refugees in our own lands ? What about those who go from place to place for work ? What about Government servants themselves ? Those who work in Central Government, many of them have and are supposed to change places every 3-4 years. My grandfather (from mother’s side) toured all of India due to his job. My mother also got transferred a few times, although I stayed in Pune. This puts up questions which make it difficult for many to answer if they were to do it truthfully as nobody would have full papers. There are also no guarantees that just having the right papers would make it right. It is very much possible that the ‘babu’ or beareaucrat sitting at the other end would demand money. I am sure there was lot of black money generated during NRC in Assam. This would happen at NPR stage itself.
c. The third question is what would happen to those who are unable to prove their citizenship at the beginning itself. They probably would need to go to court of law. What happens to their job, property and life as it is. As it is, most businesses have a slack of 40-50%, this will become more pronounced. Would we be stateless citizens in our own land ?
NRC and CAA
Somehow, let’s say you managed to have yourself included in NPR, it doesn’t mean that you will be included in NRC or National Register of Citizens. For this, one may have to rinse and repeat. They may ask more invasive questions as never before. The possible exploitation of people by the state would be as never seen before. Most of the majority in India think of Germany and how it became an industrious house and they think, they became industrious because they persecuted Jews. In fact, I believe it was the opposite. As have shared before on the blog itself, numerous times, if the Jews had been part of Germany, Germany may have prospered many times over. If the Jews could make Israel so powerful, where would Germany would have been today ? Also not many people know about the Marshall Plan which perhaps laid the foundation of the European Union as we know today but that may be part of another blog post, another day. I would probably do a part III as there are still aspects of the whole issue which I haven’t touched upon. I might do it tomorrow or few days after. Till later.
Experiences in the community 