Nativity Card Bill passed by Kerala Assembly

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 24 (PTI) 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.

Speaker A N Shamseer said that as it was not possible to properly conduct the assembly business in accordance with the calender, 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". PTI HMP ROH