Father Gets No Caste, No Religion Certificate for Daughter

A Coimbatore-based businessman enrolled his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter in a school that accepts her identity as casteless, with no religion given to her.

You might have seen people saying “Humanity is the biggest religion”, or there is no such thing created like a caste or a religion by god.

This has been proven true by a couple in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

A Coimbatore-based businessman enrolled his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter in a school that accepts her identity as casteless and with no religion.

Naresh Karthik, who runs a small design firm in Coimbatore, noticed that every school he approached for admission put the application of his daughter on hold because he’d left the caste and religion column blank. 

So, he applied for and received a certificate issued by the Coimbatore North Tahsildar declaring that “baby  GN Vilma does not belong to any caste or religion.”

Before applying for the certificate, Naresh out of curiosity, applied to twenty-two private schools for his daughter’s admission. However, every one of them put the application on hold mentioning that the caste and religion columns were blank. 

Moreover, he had already decided where he wanted to send his daughter, but he just wanted to see what would happen if he left the columns blank on those applications. 

Naresh also said that it is unfortunate that schools are unaware of a provision to choose not to declare one’s caste or religion.

He also feels that declaring caste or religious identity is unnecessary except for when someone is applying for reservations. He says he hopes that his action might create awareness about this provision in others too.

The process of applying for the certificate itself wasn’t hard, Naresh says. “I had to give it in writing that by applying, I am giving up any caste or religion-based reservation for my daughter and that I am aware that the certificate cannot be reversed in the future.” Along with this declaration on stamp paper, Naresh had to submit the child’s birth certificate and Aadhaar details. And then he later received the no caste, no religion certificate in a week’s time.”

When all of us have different beliefs and follow different religions, Naresh thought that it is best for her daughter not to have any religion or caste at all. What do you think about his decision? do let us know in the comment section below.

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