Last month, the Madras High Court called upon the Tamil Nadu government to take steps to pass a government order to enable issuance of a ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate to those who file applications with revenue authorities seeking the same.

A bench of Justices MS Ramesh and N Senthilkumar made the suggestion while allowing an appeal filed by H. Santhosh of Tirupattur district against a single judge’s order refusing to direct the local tahsildar to issue a ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate to his family members.

Setting aside the single judge’s order, the bench directed the authorities to entertain the appellant’s applications and issue a ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate within a month.

“While the Constitution of India prohibits caste-based discrimination, caste and religion still play a significant role in social life, politics, education and employment through reservation policies,” the bench said.

Describing the appellant’s efforts to have himself and his family members certified by the government as not belonging to any caste or religion as “laudable”, the bench opined that this “would promote prohibition of caste-based discrimination” in the long run and be an “eye-opener” for like-minded citizens.

This example must be emulated by all the citizens of India. We're all humans, but, unfortunately, everywhere we've had to produce and show our borrowed identities, which don't define us; rather, they defile us. Religion and caste are the labels we love to flaunt, which ought to have been flouted long ago. Caste, class, creed, country and all that jazz are........

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