Not so Sehaj: This kid is citizen of no country

JALANDHAR: One-and-a-half-year-old Sehaj Vir could not care less about complex issues like identity, nationhood and citizenship as he enjoys his carefree childhood in a village in Punjab. All the same, he does belong to a rare category of individuals who are not citizens of any country. He was born in the UK and now lives in India and neither country has given him citizenship so far.
Sehaj was born on October 26, 2013 to Naresh Vir and his wife Jasleem in the UK. Jasleen was on a student visa then and Naresh was there as her husband.
"We registered Sehaj's birth with local British authorities but were not aware that it was mandatory to register his birth with the Indian high commission as well," revealed Jasleen who was in the UK since 2010. "We came to know about the rules almost a year after his birth, but were told by the high commission that it was too late to register by then."
The couple returned to their home Sadio Pati village in Hoshiarpur in January as the authorities allowed Sehaj to travel to India on what is known as an emergency slip. "We wanted to return in November but it took us two-and-a-half months just to get the emergency slip from the high commission. I came back only in January while my husband travelled back in November," she added
"One can gauge the indifferent attitude of the official machinery given that it took them such a long time just to get an emergency slip," Naresh said. "Both Jasleen and I have US visas but can't travel until our son gets Indian citizenship."
"Though we have applied online to the Union home ministry for Sehaj's citizenship, the procedure requires verification by local authorities. We have visited various offices here but have no clue about how these papers would be verified," Naresh added.
So, until the authorities cut through the legalese, Sehaj remains a citizen without a country.

At a time when footloose Indians are making geographical boundaries increasingly irrelevant, the Union ministry of home affairs should have a proactive approach in cases where the parents of a child are Indian citizens. The ministry should work out a simple and clear procedure to give citizenship so that more people don't have to suffer Sehaj's fate.