A voter having her documents verified at a polling station during India's general election in Wayanad district, Kerala, on April 26, 2024. - AFP
KOCHI: Akashkumar considers himself a Keralite. He speaks fluent English with a tinge of Malayalam, the predominant language of the south Indian state of Kerala, where he has lived for more than half his life and attended school.
But as the Kerala government becomes the first Indian state to introduce a nativity card for residents seeking access to state services, the 30-year-old is anxious. Born in the northern state of Bihar, he may not be eligible unless Kerala state officials take into account his schooling and college education records.
“We are all residents of Kerala. It feels unfair to have to prove nativity now,” the finance manager at a research organisation in Kochi told The Straits Times.
“My parents moved to Kerala 15 years ago. My sisters and I have grown up here. Our mother tongue is Hindi, but we are practically Keralites,” said Akashkumar, who goes by one name.
Kerala’s decision comes amid rising anti-migrant sentiment in the ageing state, which is hugely reliant on migrant labour. Those who seek the card must be born in Kerala, have at least one parent born in the state, or be married to someone born in Kerala.
The move also has political ramifications as nationwide citizenship checks have left many in Kerala struggling to reinstate their right to vote ahead of the state elections in April. Critics have said this could set a dangerous precedent of discrimination against millions of interstate migrants across the country.
The Kerala government made the move in December 2025, reportedly to address concerns about voter list deletions.
The Election Commission of India has been conducting an intensive revision of electoral rolls nationwide, during which millions of people were struck off due to inadequate documentation or unexplained objections.
In Kerala, 2.4 million voters were removed from the electoral list in December – all deemed dead, absent or enrolled twice. Many who claim their names were wrongly deleted are now submitting additional documents to get reinstated.
“The plight of people who find it difficult to prove their existence is worrying,” Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters while proposing the nativity card on Dec 24.
“A person should be able to prove that he was born in this country and lives here, or is a permanent resident. The person should have an authentic and legally backed document.”
He added that the nativity card, with a photo, a hologram and personal details, can be “a permanent ID” for state services. He said it would be more durable than the nativity certificate, typically a single-use document certifying birth or long-term residence in the state. The certificate is used to claim quotas in colleges, apply for state government jobs and secure scholarships.
Vijayan said the nativity card would reduce bureaucratic repetition and improve ease of access to services.
Using the card, however, might not be straightforward.
“It’s unclear what problem it is trying to solve,” said Dr D. Dhanuraj, founder-chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Research in Kochi.
“If it is to ensure that no one is wrongly excluded from the electoral roll, this means the state is getting into determining who is a citizen or not, which is not the state’s job. If it is to establish residency in the state, there are other documents that can serve as proof of address,” he told ST.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a minor opposition force in Kerala, has argued that citizenship matters fall within the federal government’s domain and that a state cannot create a de facto citizens’ registry.
Experts are also concerned that, even if well-meaning, Kerala’s attempt to certify nativity amid growing anti-migrant sentiment in the state is risky.
“In the context of emerging regional chauvinism, a document of inclusion may inadvertently become a tool of exclusion,” said Dr Benoy Peter, executive director of the Kochi-based Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development.
Akashkumar’s parents, who are migrant workers from Bihar, for instance, may not be eligible for a nativity card even though they have lived in Kerala since 2011 and raised their family there. This is because they were born in Bihar and do not have any residency paperwork in Kerala.
“I don’t see why any state needs to have a nativity card at all. Kerala is a part of India, and any Indian has the constitutional right to live freely anywhere in the country,” Akashkumar said.
Of Kerala’s 34 million population, over four million are interstate migrants, whose numbers have been growing in the past decade. Kerala also has the country’s largest share of the elderly – around 20 per cent of its population is over 60, and the fertility rate has dropped below replacement levels to 1.5 children per woman.
In the ageing state, where wages are among India’s highest, the labour shortage has been met by migrant workers from northern and eastern states. Today, one in five workers in Kerala’s construction, tourism and manufacturing sectors is from another state.
By working at a paint shop in Kerala, Akashkumar’s father transformed his family’s life in one generation. In 2020, his middle daughter Payal topped Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala in her bachelor’s degree in archaeology, and local newspapers featured her as a north Indian migrant’s daughter who was an asset to the southern state.
Analysts said that Kerala, which prides itself on syncretism and inclusivity, has been largely accommodating of migrants, but there is nevertheless a gradual rise in anti-migrant sentiment.
“Kerala has an emigrant culture (with 2.2 million working abroad) but not an immigrant culture,” said Dr Dhanuraj.
“We think we have better education, hygiene, healthcare and economic status than other states. So, when poor migrants from Bihar and West Bengal come here, some Kerala residents do treat them like second-class citizens, fearing that they will drag Kerala down.”
In one incident, Ramnarayan Baghel, a 31-year-old worker from Chhattisgarh state, was beaten to death by a mob in Kerala in December 2025. That was the fifth lynching of a migrant worker in the state in the past decade.
“Kerala is in a situation similar to many advanced economies, where the population is in decline, and there is significant migration. The existence of xenophobia is undeniable,” said Dr Peter.
He noted that Kerala could set “a bad precedent” by becoming the first Indian state to start an exercise to determine nativity, legitimising a drift towards anti-migrant discrimination countrywide. Other states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Assam and Haryana have also mooted ways to reserve benefits for locals.
The opposition parties, including the BJP in Kerala, say the ruling Left alliance is using the nativity card to consolidate voters by appealing to regional identity over religious or political affiliations ahead of the state elections.
“As many of those affected under the election roll revision are people from the Christian and Muslim minorities, the nativity card could also be a way for the Left alliance to send a political message of support to them,” said Dr Dhanuraj.
Poor migrants from Assam and West Bengal, especially Muslims and flood-affected families, have been targeted by the Modi government and the Hindu nationalist BJP in recent years, accused of being undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.
They are at greater risk of being deleted from the electoral rolls, as they might not have adequate paperwork to prove they are Indian citizens working in Kerala.
“But the nativity card may not help the migrants, because most of them are informally employed and do not have employment contracts or tenancy agreements, even if they have lived in Kerala for years,” Dr Peter said.
“The nativity card might end up excluding some of the people it seeks to protect.” - The Straits Times/ANN
