According to an official Q and A on NRC (National Register of Citizens) released by PIB, "citizenship can be proved by any documents related to date and place of birth." Documents are "likely to include voter cards, passports, Aadhaar birth certificates, school leaving certificates, etc." An analysis of the coverage levels of these documents shows that not everyone who is eligible for a particular document possesses it.
Birth certificate
In 2000, only 56% of newborns were registered. In the years prior to that, the share of registered births was much lower. While it has gone up since, even as of 2017 at least 15% births were unregistered.
Citizenship documents: birth certificate
Aadhaar card
As of December 2019, 89.6% of the population have Aadhaar cards. The coverage was particularly low in Assam (17.6%), Meghalaya (29.3%), Nagaland (57.0%). The Aadhaar Act says the card cannot be a proof of citizenship.
Citizenship documents: Aadhaar
Passport
As of December 2018, only 7.96 crore citizens held valid passports (only 5.8% of the population at that time). Aadhaar is accepted as proof of address and photo identity for passport applications.
Citizenship documents: passport
Bank account
As of 2014, 80% of the adult population had access to bank accounts. Aadhaar can be used to open a bank account.
Citizenship documents: bank account
Voter ID
As of 2017, 92% of the eligible population had voter ID cards. Also, in some age cohorts, the coverage was much lower Aadhaar can be used as proof to obtain a voter ID card.
Citizenship documents: voter ID
Education certificate
Less than 80% of the population eligible to go to secondary school were enrolled as of 2016-17. In 2004-05, the gross enrolment ratio (GER) was even lower (51.7%).
Table shows GER in secondary level.
Citizenship documents: education certificate
Source: Civil Registration System, Ministry of External Affairs, UIDAI, Reserve Bank of India, Election Commission of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
