The combined issues of creation of an NPR data base by simply seeding Aadhaar data –that includes biometrics and is meant for proof of residence only –without informed consent as is required under law along with the elective profiling of the Christian community in parts of MMRDA region were flagged by civil rights activists in a press conference on Thursday.
Mr Dolphy D’Souza, President, Bombay Catholic Sabha, Teesta Setalvad, Secretary, Citizens for Justice and Peace, Javed Anand, Convenor, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD), Debashis Sengupta, Jitendranath Nandi, Abijit Mitra (citizens all associated with the Bengali magazine, Manthan Samayiki, Kolkata) addressed a press conference at the Press Club in Mumbai highlighting the issue of policing and profiling of citizens by the Maharashtra government and Union government respectively. Senior counsel, Prashant Bhushan, Supreme Court also addressed the press conference.
The issue of non-transparent seeding of Aadhaar data and creating a National Population Register (NPR) which is the basis for the All-India National Register of Citizens (NRC) between 2015 and now raises questions of the violations of the Constitution (Article 14,15,19 and 21 of the Constitution and Section 14A of the Citizenship Action, 1955, Setalvad revealed. A staggering NPR database of 19.34 crores appears to have been created through this seeding which appears on the face of it to be violative of the law.
Under the existing law (under challenge in the Supreme Court presently), while there is a detailed procedure laid out of house to house renumeration, by officials under the Registrar General of India (RGI), seeking such information with informed consent of individuals, this legal requirement appears to have been circumvented. Aadhar data, collected for a different purpose entirely cannot be the basis for a more robust and accountable data collection –if and when—for the NPR and NRC. Besides, no public announcements on these have been made by the Union government, facing strong opposition from at least seven state governments and widespread opposition to the idea.
(Please see the entire Investigation here https://cjp.org.in/cjp-exclusive-how-the-union-of-india-took-a-giant-step-towards-both-npr-nrc-in-2015-without-informed-consent/ CJP EXCLUSIVE: How the Union of India took a giant step towards both NPR & NRC in 2015 without informed consent. This step was taken when information contained in the Aadhaar database was linked with the NPR database without informed consent, a CJP investigation with collaboration indicates)
Profiling of Christians?
The second issue that were elaborated upon were, one, the selective profiling of Christians in the MMRDA region (Mumbai, Thane, Mira Road-Bhayander) under the guise of the Maratha survey without any disclosure by the state government. Several instances were put forth and this brought back haunting memories for the city of 1992-1993 when Mumbai’s Muslims were selectively profiled and then physically targeted.
The Bombay Catholic Sabha and Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai, have received reports from citizens across the city, spanning areas like Vikhroli, Gokuldham, Goregaon East, and even Thane. According to these reports, individuals using an App-based software under the guise of the Maratha Reservation Survey (attached form) are inquiring about the Maratha community as well as asking Christians (based on received reports) about their religion and conversion history, while refusing to disclose their own identities. Issues of which organisations this survey has been outsourced to , no full disclosure were raised.
Giant Leap towards NPR without informed consent?
Debashis Sengupta, Jitendranath Nandi, Abijit Mitra (citizens all associated with the Bengali magazine, Manthan Samayiki, Kolkata) highlighted how, citizen’s activism through the Right to Information Act (RTI) has revealed how, a giant step towards NPR and NRC was taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) when information contained in the Aadhaar database was linked with the NPR database in 2015. While the only legal way of linking the two databases is by acquiring informed consent from every resident through a public exercise similar to the Census conducted by the Registrar General of India (RGI), investigations reveal that the exercise did not have any provision to collect any informed consent for this linkage. The involved citizens in and around Metiabruz Kolkata are close collaborators with Citizens for Justice and Peace (cjp.org.in)
After the passing of the pandemic, a group in Metiabruz, found through a campaign under the Right to Information Act (RTI) that, in 2023, they were surprised to discover that the Annual Report 2021-22 of MHA declared (in section 15.41 of NPR) that
“In 2015, a few fields such as Name, Gender, Date and Place of Birth, Place of Residence and Father’s and Mother’s name were updated and Aadhaar, Mobile and Ration Card Numbers were collected”.
On the ground there was no exercise being carried out in their locality from the Registrar General of India (RGI), nor did any enumerator come to them for updating NPR and for collecting Aadhaar Number in 2015-16. So this event led them to file a series of RTIs, First Appeals and Second Appeals to the concerned government authorities to verify the legitimacy of the NPR process starting from 2010. Jitendranath Nandi addressing the press conference explained how they went about the investigation based on RTIs.
Abhijit Mitra, a member of Lokvidya Jan Andolan in Calcutta, addressing the conference online said the government’s motive of collecting citizens’ demographic and biometric data was suspicious. “The whole exercise is not transparent and is aimed at targetting minority communities.” He said the 21 questions under the NPR, which the home ministry declared to be voluntary, were seen as threatening privacy, leading to surveillance and further disenfranchisement of citizens through the NRC.
It appears therefore that a giant step towards NPR and NRC was taken quietly when information belonging to the Aadhaar database was linked with the NPR database. The only legal way of linking the two databases is by acquiring informed consent from every resident through an exercise similar to the Census. These developments pose a clear and present danger of no less magnitude than what triggered the CAA- NPR-NRC movement, though there is no conspicuous symbol of that danger visible to the public.
Citizens have to come together and prevent governmental overreach and harassment of the people.
Mumbai-based activist Javed Anand said the CAA-NPR-NRC had been part of the BJP-RSS agenda to polarise voters along religious lines to win elections by diverting attention from the real issues — price rise, the sad state of healthcare, education and employment.
“They have been claiming to make India a Hindu Rashtra. What we have been witnessing now is an alarming state of affiars in the country. Every other day we read about mosques being demolished and goons hurling saffron flags on churches,” he said.
Both organisations, CJP and BCS have appealed and that citizens be alert and vigilant, create wider awareness on the issues highlighted above. Nothing short of vibrant citizens’ movement can ensure that the governments are made accountable and transparent and act as a deterrent against such transgressions.
Details of Profiling of Christians may be read here:
Details of How the Union of India took a giant step towards both NPR & NRC in 2015 without obtaining informed consent may be read here
Related:
NPR database declared as ‘Critical Information Infrastructure’; needs to be updated soon: MHA