Nativity Card Bill passed by Kerala Assembly

The Left government in Kerala on Tuesday passed the Nativity Card Bill in the state Assembly, which rushed through the entire remaining legislative and financial business of the House in the current session following the opposition protests.

The Left government in Kerala on Tuesday passed the Nativity Card Bill in the state Assembly, which rushed through the entire remaining legislative and financial business of the House in the current session following the opposition protests. A Nativity Card is an official identity card to be issued by the Kerala government to certify that a person is a native of Kerala. It can be obtained by those born in the state or with at least one ancestor from Kerala, provided they have not taken foreign citizenship. The absence of the Congress-led UDF opposition when the Bill was taken up and passed was criticised by the CPI(M)-led LDF ruling front. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said it was unfortunate that the opposition in Kerala was not an effective one. ''They are scared of discussions. Today is the last day of the assembly session before the upcoming elections. The opposition was expected to raise issues about the governance to trouble the administration. As they did not have any such points to raise, they decided to completely boycott the proceedings of the House,'' the CM said. The opposition was not present for any of the discussions, including on the policy address by the Governor and the budget for 2026-27 financial year presented by the ruling front. He said that the Nativity Card Bill was passed by the assembly at a time when a section of society in the country was apprehensive about their status in the nation. ''But, the people of Kerala need not have any such apprehension, thanks to this bill. They will have a nativity card. No one can reject it. Our state is a safe place in the current situation in the country,'' he said. Earlier, Speaker A N Shamseer said that as it was not possible to properly conduct the assembly business in accordance with the calendar, it was decided, after discussions with the political leaders, to take up all the demands for grants, scheduled in the coming days, on Tuesday itself. Subsequently, the demands for grants moved by the various departments were taken up and passed by the House without any discussions due to the absence of the Congress-led UDF opposition from the House. Similarly, the House also passed the Nativity Card Bill 2026, the Abkari (Amendment) Bill 2026, the Kerala Advocates' Clerks Welfare Fund (Amendment) Bill 2026, and the Kerala Advocates' Welfare Fund (Amendment) Bill 2026. The Bills, whose subject committee reports were to be tabled as per the list of business, were also taken up for consideration, changes proposed by some legislators were accepted and without any discussion they were passed by the House. Subsequently, state Finance Minister K N Balagopal termed the passing of the Nativity Card Bill as a ''historic moment'' for Kerala, as the legislation aims to protect minority communities. He contended that if the Congress-led UDF was sincere about such issues, they would have participated in the House proceedings. ''But, they did not want to see this Bill passed. They wanted to create a controversy. They took the same stand with regard to the financial business of the House,'' he alleged. The Nativity Card Bill was presented in the House on Monday in the absence of opposition UDF members, who had boycotted the proceedings over the Sabarimala gold loss case. The government had said the proposed law would enable those from the state to proudly declare themselves Keralites through the issuance of a nativity card. Later, the Bill was referred to the Subject Committee for further scrutiny. The state cabinet, last December, had given in-principle approval for the introduction of a permanent, photo-embedded Nativity Card in the state with the objective of ensuring that no individual has to struggle to prove their identity or place of residence in the state. The Bill, granting legal validity to the scheme announced in December last year, was cleared during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week. Introducing the Bill in the Assembly, state Revenue Minister K Rajan had said that the legislation comes in the backdrop of the Centre implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act ''unilaterally''. Once the Nativity Card is issued, a Keralite, wherever his present location is, can declare himself as a Malayali with self-pride, he had said. While announcing the introduction of the Nativity Card, the government had already made it clear that it would be issued on the lines of the existing nativity certificate, which certifies that a person hails from Kerala. A native of Kerala would include those born in the state or those with at least one ancestor born in Kerala, provided they have not acquired foreign citizenship, the government had said. Those born outside the state while their parents were employed elsewhere would also be considered natives. Last month, the CM had said the initiative was intended to ensure that no individual has to struggle to prove their identity or place of residence in the state. The announcement of the card in December drew sharp criticism from the BJP, which termed it an example of ''dangerous separatist politics''.

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