- 6 weeks ago
Kishanganj in Bihar’s Seemanchal region has come under the spotlight after voter deletions affected 1,45,668 people, reflecting a deletion strike rate of 11.8 per cent, among the highest in the state.
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00:00Music
00:03So, is there a line for the military to get out there?
00:33Kishan Ganj, located in Bihar's Simanchal region, has been in the spotlight over voter
00:50deletions.
00:51Here, the voter deletion strike rate is about 11.8 percent, among the highest in the state.
00:58Situated along the India-Nepal border, Kishan Ganj has a nearly 65 percent Muslim population.
01:04But what's the real situation on the ground?
01:07To find out, India Today travelled to villages along the border.
01:13India Today is traversing the length and breadth of Bihar, criss-crossing villages, to find
01:20out the ground reality on the SIR exercise.
01:24And now, we have reached the east-most corner of Simanchal region in Kishan Ganj.
01:31And Deigal Bank, where we are standing right now, is not very far away from the Nepal border.
01:37So let's try and find out the ground reality here.
01:44Voters 12,31,910 Draft roll 10,86,242
01:53Voter deleted 1,45,668 Vidhan Sabha Thakur Ganj 53
02:00Our team visited the border village of Digal Bank.
02:08There we met Asif Chacha, who the moment the issue was raised, vented his anger at the
02:13booth-level officer.
02:15Poles 12,668 Draft rat.
02:17The people come here, in this building, looked around and saw him a huge deal of things.
02:22The people left behind an Injali Mataji and said, let's see how he finds out.
02:22And we should say they will even run in theалиon, to see what he wants to do and not do.
02:26This project every two or four days later, is the government wants to enter the floor.
02:31This wurde just 1,2,1.
02:33This was a clear idea here that there were people who've been in the building,
02:39now they're doing what they're doing.
02:40We have been in the hospital so we can make the hospital, we can make the hospital, we can make the hospital, we will also make the hospital, we will also make the hospital.
02:52Our girl wants to vote for her children from the age of 23-25, how will she get home for her?
03:00In this Terai belt along the India-Nepal border, farming is the primary livelihood.
03:29It's the rainy season and transplantation work is underway in the fields.
03:34On the way, we met Kishtu Baba, a farmer.
03:38So on our way, we met Kishtu Dada and also Sankula Dadi and they have a message because
03:45it's very interesting his experience with this entire new exercise.
03:49Kishtu Dada, tell us about your card, what mood is your mood?
03:53We don't know if it's made or not, we don't know if it's made or not, we don't know if it's made or not.
04:00It will not be made for me.
04:02In 2003-2003, when a child was born in 2004, how did it come to the name of Kishtu Dada?
04:07We don't know if it's made or not.
04:14Thanks to the close ties between the two countries, villagers on either sides of the border move
04:28across with ease.
04:31The Madhesi community of Nepal shares deep familial bonds with people in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
04:38Nepali daughters-in-law are part of hundreds of households across villages here.
04:45This is Shagun's daughter, Shairi, living with her in this modest home.
04:50After her marriage in 2003, Shagun came from Jhapa village in Nepal and settled here.
04:56She has a voter ID and Aadhar card, but to apply for the new voter card this time, she lacks
05:02most of the 11 mandatory documents.
05:05The truth is, we were never thought about this.
05:07We never thought about this as a result of Nepal and India.
05:12This can be the government's being a government's.
05:14If you are being a human or not, are there any government's being in mind or no?
05:19Is there any government's being in mind?
05:20We have tried.
05:21We were very ill.
05:22We were very ill.
05:23We were not coming up 2 or 3 times.
05:25We were not coming up 2 or 3 times, and then we left the last week.
05:29We were not leaving.
05:30We have been living, but we have not done.
05:34What will we do or won't do?
05:36This is our home.
05:38We will go from here.
05:41We want to live here.
05:44We are children.
05:46We are friends.
05:48My name is Sahiri.
05:50My mother and my father are very good.
05:53This house is very good.
05:55You go to school?
05:57Yes, they go.
05:59This is their home.
06:01This is their small dream which they dreamt together.
06:05Shamim and Shagun who live on the Indo-Nepal border on the Indian side at Suribitta village.
06:13They don't know what lies ahead.
06:16Shagun is not alone.
06:18This is the story of every lane and household.
06:24Take Nasreen, married for 13 years, whose documents were recently returned without acceptance.
06:31I am my son of Nepal.
06:33My son of Shagun is in Suribitta.
06:35We have made a border card.
06:37We have to save the border card.
06:39We have two children.
06:42Where will we go?
06:44Families are running from pillar to post in frustration.
06:48Of all the 11 documents, a residence certificate is the simplest requirement.
06:52But under current circumstances, even that seems nearly impossible.
06:57Under the 1950 India-Nepal treaty, any Nepali citizen can live and work in India.
07:03They enjoy all rights except voting.
07:06However, within seven years of marriage, a Nepali bride can acquire Indian citizenship,
07:11but only after obtaining a citizenship certificate.
07:14Border residents never felt the need for such formalities before.
07:18Most had Aadhar and voter IDs through their husbands and in-laws and had been voting for years.
07:25Home Minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stone for a massive Sita temple in Sita Mani.
07:35And that was actually sounding the pole bugle in Bihar.
07:39But far away here in Kishanganj, Lord Ram and Sita are being discussed again and again.
07:47And that's for a reason.
07:48There are villagers here who are sitting tensed and are anxious because they don't know what's going to happen to their daughter-in-laws who came from Nepal, were married here.
08:02And one doesn't know that what will happen in this entire voter roll exercise with their identity card.
08:12So let's try and get a sense from these people that why are they so anxious.
08:17I right Bowen.
08:21Malaya prophet says he hasBecause of her husband andитель,
08:25he's fått on us and geared for herакoul.
08:27No, the 4-yearidental guardian has pork-ups.
08:29I have no idea.
08:30Do you understand why the country is workplace for anyone?
08:33How does hefit Hi foundation for1000?
08:35Mr. Everett said for the Awesome and whether the Prime Minister or서도,
08:38Hecut have a great keepen ation so he hastreritis.
08:40People find feelings when they are found on the ground.
08:42Yes they are also at home.
08:44This is Lavanu Singh, engulfed in frustration.
09:06This is his ancestral village, always bustling with life, his courtyard ringing with children's
09:12laughter. His wife, Rita, whom he married 15 years ago from Nepal, raised their children
09:18with care and nurtured the family. But today, Lavanu Singh is struggling, desperately to
09:25prove her legitimacy.
09:27The bond between Nepal and India has been idolized, personified and etched in gold even in mythology
09:36where Lord Ram got Sita from Nepal as he married her. And that is actually the true essence
09:44of every marriage that happens between families of Nepal and this side of India. And one such
09:53story is this, where Rita married Lavanu Singh about 15 years back. It is a story of a happily
10:02married family with five children, a beautiful house and living through all the hardships together.
10:12But all of a sudden, they are living in tension and fear. And the fear is of being separated.
10:21There is a lot of rumour mongering, lot of speculation that is going on and Lavanu Singh will actually
10:28be defined at all. Lavanu Singh, there is a lot of time when you were married, when you were
10:35married, you would say that your wife is Sita Maiya.
10:41Yes, we were happy with that. If it was the first time, we don't have any relation to Nepal and India.
10:47We never had any relationship. We don't have any relationship between Nepal and India.
10:54Now we know that Nepal and India will become different. If it is coming, it will come to
10:58India. We will bring it from India. We brought it from India. We brought it from Nepal.
11:02We brought it from Nepal, we brought it from Nepal, we brought it from it to Nepal, we brought it from
11:06it to the extent of the disadvantage of the future. There is no hope for it to be here.
11:09so here it is not giving it to me that it will not become, so why will it not become?
11:14We are just saying this, why will it not become?
11:18Today, 50 or 100 years ago, Shita Maya will bring India to India.
11:24It has been made everything.
11:26It means it will also leave it.
11:28He also said that what is 2003, that will be the vote,
11:34and what is 2003, it will not become.
11:37It will be the certificate.
11:43Yes, it will be the certificate.
11:45Yes, it will also be taken.
11:47We have given it to the father.
11:49The fear is that you are saying that who is in Nepal,
11:52there will not be any support.
11:54Many people say that it is built in Assam,
11:57and they will keep everyone there.
11:59But Shasana came, he also wrote,
12:02who is in Nepal in the village.
12:04At its core, the issue is stuck in the confusion of citizenship.
12:10Ever since the election commission announced voter list revision in Bihar,
12:13the matter has become tangled.
12:15Villagers here lack resources, time, and even the awareness of what steps to take.
12:21In this Tarai region, the matrimonial bonds have brought families even closer.
12:34A thread that was woven by and is woven by the daughters on either sides.
12:40But with this new election process in place, the villagers fear what's going to happen as far as the Nepali Bahus are concerned.
12:50The daughter-in-laws have for decades been married and are from either sides.
12:57And in Kishan Gansh, the voter deletion is almost topping the charts in Bihar.
13:03But little does anyone know that the daughter-in-laws who come from Nepal are also in this list.
13:11And what's worse, the fear-mongering has made the villagers believe that sooner or later,
13:19their bahu will be sent back to their country.
13:24The lack of information has fueled rumours.
13:30Take the story of a 95-year-old Padma Devi.
13:34Married into India in 1950, she has nurtured three generations here.
13:40Yet her name is missing from the voter rolls today.
13:43Her daughter, Sangeeta, who married in Nepal, cannot understand how she is.
14:11.
14:12Any other daughter who married in Nepal cannot understand this irony.
14:14.
14:15.
14:17.
14:21.
14:22.
14:23.
14:24.
14:26.
14:31.
14:33.
14:34.
14:35.
14:36.
14:37.
14:38.
14:39Why do the government do this?
14:43The government doesn't come to vote.
14:48The moment we arrived, daughters-in-law from multiple households gathered around us,
14:53with their applications in hand.
14:56In 2024, I had to vote.
14:59This is not the case.
15:01The government is back.
15:03When I was 42 years old,
15:05I had to vote every year.
15:09I had to vote every year.
15:11I didn't vote every year.
15:13In 2024?
15:15I wanted to vote every year.
15:19When I was 22 years old, I had to vote every year.
15:22I have to vote every year.
15:25I have to vote every year.
15:27I have to vote every year.
15:29I have to vote every year.
15:31I have to vote every year.
15:33Do you have to vote every year?
15:35No.
15:37Whether it is 75 years, 40 years, 22 years or 13 years,
15:43these years of marriage are actually dwarfed in front of the maze and complication of documents.
15:51Padma Devi, Purnima, Chirakuti Devi and Geeta Devi really feel that all of a sudden,
15:58they are reminded that before being the daughter-in-law of India, they are Nepal ki beti.
16:05And perhaps with little time on hand, nobody really wants to take cognizance and they feel that no one really cares.
16:15District, Kishan Ganj.
16:17Vidhan Sabha, Bahadur Ganj, 52.
16:21From Deagle Bank to Bahadur Ganj, this story doesn't change.
16:42There are many like Pinky Das who are facing the brunt.
16:47She is a teacher in a play school and ensures that the future of these kids is bright.
16:54But right now, she can't answer for her future.
16:58And the reason is that her name is not there in the voter list.
17:02She has an election voter card and an Aadhar card
17:07and still feels that she might be very away from casting her vote this time.
17:13We'll try and find out why.
17:15We'll try and find out why.
17:18The first time we made, the registration card and the voter card,
17:23there was no system for this time.
17:25It has no problem.
17:27Now when I got the name, the voter card here,
17:30we got to know that the name came,
17:32we'll be able to make the registration card.
17:35We don't have to make the registration card.
17:36We don't have to make the registration card,
17:38but when we do not make the registration card,
17:39we will be able to make the registration card.
17:41It will be 14th of the registration card.
17:44With no computers or resources in the village, most people rush to nearby block offices to prepare documents.
17:52Among all documents, the demand for resident certificates is the highest.
17:56In the past month alone, over 3 lakh applications for resident certificates have been filed in Kishankaj.
18:04Clearly, applying online is extremely difficult.
18:07So, it's a run for the villagers to get that document made online.
18:14And therefore, they come from faraway villages to Bahadur Ganj, which has become the epicenter for filling online form 6, to getting the Nivas Praman Patra made.
18:28You can see right, left, on either side, there are several photocopying shops, online cyber hubs that actually do it for people who can't do it themselves.
18:42Queues and huddle and crowds.
18:44In the village, there are no facilities in the village.
18:47In the village, there are no facilities in the village, so people will come here.
18:51No, the documents are all available.
18:54We have a website.
18:55We have a lot of people who use this website.
18:58We have a great project.
19:00We have been running for 6 months.
19:02We have no need to have all of this.
19:04We have no need to have all of this.
19:06We have all of this stuff available for one month.
19:09It's easy to have all of this.
19:12We have a system of OTP.
19:14We have not taken the OTP, but we have not taken the OTP.
19:16We have no need to take the OTP.
19:18We have no need to apply for 10 to 15 minutes.
19:26To seek answers, we visited the Block Office.
19:29The Circle Officer confirmed that every day around 300 resident certificates applications arrive,
19:35with a total reaching nearly 50,000, half of which are still pending.
19:41In the Bahadur Ganj, there are only 50,000, half of which are still pending.
19:48And what about the brides from Nepal who are now integral members of households here?
20:01When asked if they would be granted residence certificates, the CEO categorically said no.
20:07If they are here, if they will not be here, they will not be here.
20:13Time is short. Applications are piled high.
20:18And in such a scenario, the documents of these Nepali daughters-in-law have been rejected.
20:25Clearly, the issue has come down to citizenship.
20:28But then, how did these women cast their votes in 2024 and earlier elections?
20:33Why has no solution been thought of and for them in this new process?
20:40If the Election Commission pays attention to the plight of Padma Devi, Purnima, Geeta, Rita and Chirakuti,
20:48perhaps some hope may arise.
20:51But in all this confusion, how will their voices ever reach Delhi?
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