GS Paper: Population & Associated Issues

In a first-of-its-kind project in the country, the Maharashtra government has developed a website-based migration tracking system (MTS) application to map the movement of vulnerable seasonal migrant workers through individual unique identity numbers.

What is MTS Project?

• The MTS project is envisaged to maintain the continuity of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) like nutrition supply, immunisation and health check-up etc. to migrant beneficiaries.
• It is targeted for children aged up to 18 years, lactating mothers and pregnant women registered with the Anganwadi centres.
• Their migration will be tracked for ensuring the portability of the ICDS for their families in their destination districts within or outside the state until their return to their native places.

Need for such a project

• Distress-driven seasonal migration of workers is quite prevalent in Maharashtra.
• Due to lockdowns, a large number of women and children had got displaced and missed on their nutrition, vaccination and other services under the ICDS scheme.
• Like other states, does not have any institutionalized mechanism to enumerate it.
• So, through this initiative, the state has sought to capture the data of intra-district, inter-districts and interstate migration of such workers.

Working details of the project

• Anganwadi workers have to first register the migrating beneficiaries from their areas on the MTS website app on their laptops or mobile phones by using the workers’ identity cards like Aadhaar, PAN card, or ration cards etc.
• Other than names, the Anganwadi workers have to mention the age, weight, and height of the migrant children, who will be placed in nutritional categories like severe, moderate or acute.
• Depending on this data, the nutrition benefits will be allocated to the children in their new locations.
• On the MTS app, the Anganwadi workers would also collect details about various informal sectors — such as brick kilns, agriculture labour, stone crushing, construction work, sugarcane cutting or sugar factory — where the migrant workers are headed along with their children.

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Last week, the Assam government informed the Assembly that nearly 1.44 lakh illegal foreigners had been identified in the state this year based on the 1985 Assam Accord, and around 30,000 of them had been deported to their country of origin.

Who is a foreigner under the Assam Accord?

• The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 by the Centre and the Assam government with the All Assam Student Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad.
• This movement had spearheaded the 1979-85 Assam Movement against migration from Bangladesh.
• It was against all migrants from Bangladesh, irrespective of religion.
• The Accord set March 24, 1971 as a cut-off. (The Assam Movement had demanded 1951 as the cut-off.)
• Anyone who had come to Assam before midnight on that date would be an Indian citizen, while those who had come after would be dealt with as foreigners.
• The same cut-off was used in updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

What are the expressions for which the definitions have not been determined? Why are they important?

• The definitions of phrases mentioned in the Accord such as ‘Axomiya janagan’ (Assamese people), ‘khilonjia’ (indigenous) and ‘adi basinda’ (original inhabitants) were yet to be determined.
• The context is Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which promises “constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people”.
• However, it doesn’t  provide clear cut definitions to identify who would be the “Assamese people”.
• Clause 6 is important because many felt the 1971 cut-off was inadequate.

Issues with the cut-off date

• The cut-off for the rest of India is 1948, many noted that the Assam Accord would grant citizenship to a section of migrants who would be counted as foreigners elsewhere in the country.
• Clause 6 was, therefore, seen as a protective provision which would guarantee certain benefits to the Assamese people, while excluding some sections among those granted citizenship on the basis of the 1971 cut-off.

Why is the ‘Assamese’ definition difficult?

• Because Assam’s demography has been shaped by decades of migration.
• Many of the migrants had settled here during the colonial era.
• While they might not be native speakers of an indigenous language, such as Assamese or Bodo or Karbi, the question was whether the definition of “Assamese” could exclude someone, for example, whose family might have lived in Assam for 100 years.

Have any definitions been proposed?

• A key committee came in 2019, when Assam was rocked by protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which proposes to grant citizenship to various categories of foreigners including Hindus from Bangladesh.
• The government set up the committee as a means to quell the protests.

This committee recommended following persons as Assamese:

1. All citizens who are part of the Assamese community
2. Any person of indigenous tribal community of Assam
3. Any other indigenous community of Assam
4. Any other citizens of India residing in the territory or Assam on or before January 1, 1951 and
5. Descendants of these categories

• In essence, this definition includes not only the indigenous people but also all other Indian citizens, irrespective of mother tongue, as long as their ancestors were staying in Assam before 1951.

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The Rajya Sabha has discussed a Private Member’s Bill on population regulation.

The Population Control Bill

• First introduced in 2019, it is a private member bill proposed by Rakesh Sinha.
• The purpose of the bill was to control the population growth of India.
• The proposed bill then was signed by 125 Members of Parliament (MP) and is yet to become an act of law.

It seeks to amend Article 47 by inserting article 47A to the Constitution of India. It proposes that-

1. The State shall promote small family norms by offering incentives in taxes, employment, education etc. to its people who keep their family limited to two children
2. The state shall withdraw every concession from and deprive such incentives to those not adhering to small family norm, to keep the growing population under control.

Key provisions

• Penalties: The 2019 bill talked about introducing penalties for couples not adhering to the two-child policy such as debarment from contesting in elections and ineligibility for government jobs.
• Two-child policy: The 2020 bill proposes to introduce a two-child policy per couple.
• Incentivizing adoption: It shall incentivize adoption through various measures such as educational benefits, taxation cuts, home loans, free healthcare, and better employment opportunities.
• Birth spacings: It also proposes to ensure healthy birth spacing through measures related to augmenting the availability, accessibility and affordability of quality reproductive health services.

Issues with penal provisions

• Alienation: If a family was penalized for more than two children, then the third child would develop a feeling of alienation that he is an unwanted child.
• Bar on Women: The biggest victim of such would be women, irrespective of religion. They would be debarred in political participation.
• Selective abortions: In India, the preference for male children may lead to a greater anti-female child sex selection because parents will only have “two attempts” to have babies.
• Violation of reproductive autonomy: To control and regulate the number of children a family can have is a gross violation of human rights, the right to self-determination and an individual’s reproductive autonomy.
• Violation of Individual Privacy: A right to procreation is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution but it comes under the ambit of Article 21, as discussed in Jasvir Singh vs State of Punjab.
• Remarriage issues: A divorced person who has two children with a prior partner cannot bear a child with their next spouse.

Why need such policy?

• India had a land availability of only 1.2 hectare per person, while the resources that get regenerated automatically was 0.43 only.
• We are an ecological debtor. The ecological footprint which we use and the gap between their regeneration is 187%.
• If this continued for 30 years, then resources would be exhausted and people would not be able to lead a dignified life.
• Some people see demographic dividend in the growing population but it was being used as cheap labour globally.

Way forward

• The population of India is seen as the biggest obstacle to its economic development.
• It is the fall guy for governments seeking to justify their incompetence.
• No legislation must be enacted unless its future impact and social effect are first completely realized.

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This newscard is an excerpt from the ‘Letter and Spirit’ section in the print edition of TH, which is a new column that will focus on explaining and understanding basic Acts and Articles enshrined in our Constitution.

Context

• With the contentious farm laws repealed, the discussions turn to the second most politically and legally resisted legislation of recent times, The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
• The citizenship question finds its retro-reflection in the Constituent Assembly debates which serve as the undeniable autobiography of India’s basic law.

Debate over CAA, yet again

• CAA asserts that only people belonging to some faiths are victims of persecution and violence and the doors of the country can be legitimately shut to any other instance of persecution and ethnic violence.

A ‘headache’ for the Drafting Committee

• The citizenship question had been one of the most difficult tasks confronted by the drafting committee as admitted by Dr B.R.Ambedkar.
• He moved a set of consolidated amendments to the citizenship provisions of the original draft.
• He said that the task had given the drafting committee “such a headache” and multiple “drafts were prepared” and “destroyed” before arriving at a consensus.

The critics

• The draft did not satisfy all but to the most due to its secular and liberal provisions.
• It was fiercely contested on the floor of the Constituent Assembly on religious, ethnic and hyper-nationalistic considerations.
• The Article 5 of the draft constitution was criticized for its lack of exclusive and preferential provisions on religious lines regarding the declaration as to who shall be the citizen of India during commencement of the Constitution.
• Then Article 5A (today’s Article 7 of the Constitution) sought to grant citizenship rights to the migrants of Pakistan who had returned to India under a permit for resettlement granted by Indian authorities.

The ‘Jus Soli’ Principle

• This principle is premised on the automatic grant of citizenship based on the place of birth provided the person is domiciled in India, qualifying it with religious identity.
• It was in fact a proposal to ingrain religion into the bedrock of the Constitution.
• Dr P.S.Deshmukh from the Central Provinces and Berar proposed changes to Article 5 of the draft by proposing to replace the universally honoured “jus soli” principle by qualifying it with a religion.
• He went on to state that every person who is a Hindu or a Sikh by religion and is not a citizen of any other State, wherever he resides shall be entitled to be a citizen of India.

Issue over indiscriminate grant of citizenship

• The concern of Dr. Deshmukh justifying the exclusion of people belonging to other religions, as echoed in his question- Is it then wise that we should throw opens our citizenship so indiscriminately?
• It found fraternal support from members who opined that Hindus and Sikhs have no other home but India.
• This finds its resonance today in the presumptive base of the CAA.

The defenders

• Some highlighted the fact of panic driven migration without certain intention to settle down in Pakistan was left unanswered with precision.
• Some retorted that mentioning the name of some communities will make other communities feel that they were being ignored.

What did Nehru opine?

• Nehru stated that we cannot have rules for Hindus, for Muslims and for Christians only.
• He stressed upon the possibility of the second wave of migration including non-Hindus and non-Sikhs who were part of the first wave influx.
• Hence, in his view, foreclosing the doors fearing the influx of some may deprive others of exercising their choice.

Ambedkar on Pakistan returnees

• Ambedkar clarified that the principal thrust of Article 5A was to declare that persons who migrated to Pakistan after 1st of March 1947 due to internal disturbances.
• He declared that some migrants from Pakistan were allowed to return on the basis of the agreements between both the Governments and on the basis of an ordinance promulgated.

Conclusion

• The Constituent Assembly debates on citizenship showed that in the rousing of sentiments of ethnicity and distrust, sagacity had an upper hand, leading to the saner denouement of toleration.
• History is known to set examples.

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The Centre has proposed amendments to a 1969 law that will enable it to “maintain the database of registered birth and deaths at the national level”.

Registration of Births and Deaths Act (RBD), 1969

• The registration of births, deaths and stillbirths are compulsory under the provisions of RBD Act in all parts of the Country.
• The normal period of 21 days (from the date of occurrence) has been prescribed for reporting the birth, death and stillbirth events.

Why need amendment?

• The database may be used to update the Population Register and the electoral register, and Aadhaar, ration card, passport and driving licence databases after the amendment.
• Presently, the registration of births and deaths is done by the local registrar appointed by States.

What are the proposed amendments?

Ans. Unified Database of Birth and Death

• It is proposed that the Chief Registrar (appointed by the States) would maintain a unified database at the State level.
• It would then integrate it with the data at the “national level,” maintained by the Registrar General of India (RGI).
• The amendments will imply that the Centre will be a parallel repository of data.

Significance of the database

• It would help update:

1. Population Register prepared under the Citizenship Act, 1955;
2. Electoral registers or electoral rolls prepared under the Representation of the People Act, 1951
3. Aadhaar database prepared under the Aadhaar Act, 2016;
4. Ration card database prepared under the National Food Security Act, 2013;
5. Passport database prepared under the Passport Act; and
6. Driving licence database under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, and
7. Other databases at the national level are subject to provisons of Section 17 (1) of the RBD Act, 1969

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The Assam government on Saturday set up an eight-member sub-committee to examine and prepare a framework for the implementation of all clauses of the Assam Accord of 1985.

What is Assam Accord?

• The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement.
• It the movement demanded the identification and deportation of all illegal foreigners – predominantly Bangladeshi immigrants.
• They feared that past and continuing large scale migration was overwhelming the native population, impacting their political rights, culture, language and land rights.
• The Assam Movement caused the estimated death of over 855 people.
• It ended with the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985.

What are the major clauses of Assam Accord?

• Clause 5: Foreigners Issue
• Clause 6: Constitutional, Legislative & Administrative safeguards
• Clause 7: Economic Development
• Clause 9 : Security of International Border
• Clause 10: Prevention of Encroachment of Government lands
• Clause 11: Restricting acquisition of immovable property by foreigners
• Clause 12: Registration of births and deaths

Which clauses are being discussed?

• A sub-committee has been tasked to examine and prepare a framework for implementation of all clauses of Assam Accord in general with special emphasis on Clause 6, Clause 7, Clause 9 and Clause 10.

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The government has made it clear in the Supreme Court that a caste census of the Backward Classes is “administratively difficult and cumbersome”.

About Socio-Economic and Caste Census

• The SECC 2011 was conducted for the 2011 Census of India.
• Then government approved the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 to be carried out after discussion in both houses of Parliament in 2010.
• The SECC 2011 was conducted in all states and union territories of India and the first findings were revealed in July 2015.
• SECC 2011 is also the first paperless census in India conducted on hand-held electronic devices by the government in 640 districts.
• SECC 2011 was the first caste-based census since 1931 Census of India and it was launched on 29 June 2011 from the Sankhola village of Hazemara block in West Tripura district.

Issues with SECC

Ans. Data NOT available

• The SECC data is stored in the Office of the Registrar General and had not been made official.
• It cannot be used as a source of information for population data in any official document.

What did the Centre say?

• The Centre reasoned that even when the census of castes were taken in the pre-Independence period, the data suffered in respect of “completeness and accuracy”.
• It said the caste data enumerated in the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 is “unusable” for official purposes as they are “replete with technical flaws”.
• The infirmities of the SECC 2011 data makes it unusable for any official purposes and cannot be mentioned as a source of information for population data in any official document.
• Besides, the Centre said, it was too late now to enumerate caste into the Census 2021.

Why not OBCs?

• Unlike the constitutional mandate for collection of census data on SCs and STs, there is no obligation to provide the census figures of OBCs.
• The census data on SCs and STs are used for delimitation of electoral constituencies as well as for reservation of seats, as mandated under the Constitution.

Reason: Official discouragement of Caste

• The center was replying to a writ petition filed by the State of Maharashtra to gather Backward Classes’ caste data in the State while conducting Census 2021.
• The Centre clarified that exclusion of information regarding any other caste — other than SCs and STs — from the purview of the census is a “conscious policy decision”.
• The government said caste-wise enumeration in the Census was given up as a matter of policy from 1951.
• It said there was a policy of “official discouragement of caste”.

What is the plea about?

• To Maharashtra’s plea to reveal the SECC 2011 “raw caste data” of Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Centre said the 2011 Census was not an “OBC survey”.
• It was, on the other hand, a comprehensive exercise to enumerate the caste status of all households in the country in order to use their socio-economic data to identify poor households.

Why is the Centre reluctant?

• The Centre explained that a population census was not the “ideal instrument” for the collection of details on caste.
• There is a “grave danger” that the “basic integrity” of census data would be compromised.
• Even the fundamental population count may get “distorted”.

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