india religion religious-law birth-certificate
Can a person legally convert to any religion including very minor religions in India or disavow all religion?
<p>Say a person in India wants to change his religion in Government certificates like the Aadhar card (UID) to say "Pastafarianism" or "Ancient Greek Religion" (think Zeus) or "Scientology".</p>

<p>Does the religion have to be registered or recognized or approved in some way by the Indian government or any authorities?</p>

<p>Can they enter any name in the religion box in these government certificate or ID applications?</p>

<p><a href="https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-leave-the-religion-column-blank-on-application-forms-in-India-If-not-what-do-atheists-usually-do" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-leave-the-religion-column-blank-on-application-forms-in-India-If-not-what-do-atheists-usually-do</a></p>

<p><a href="https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-need-to-mention-our-religion-in-exam-application-forms" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-need-to-mention-our-religion-in-exam-application-forms</a></p>

<p><a href="https://www.quora.com/In-every-document-or-form-in-a-religion-column-why-isnt-there-a-column-for-atheist-apart-from-Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-etc" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.quora.com/In-every-document-or-form-in-a-religion-column-why-isnt-there-a-column-for-atheist-apart-from-Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-etc</a>
Does India force you with the choice of a few official religions in the govt cerificates and ID's.</p>

<p>Can a person state their religion as 
"not willing to disclose" or 
"none"?</p>

<p>I know that in regard to civil code everyone is a Hindu if their civil code isn't on the list.</p>

<p>Under the <a href="https://uidai.gov.in/images/the_aadhaar_act_2016.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Aadhaar Act 2016</a>, Ch. II (3)(1)</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Every resident shall be entitled to obtain an Aadhaar number by
  submitting his demographic information and biometric information by
  undergoing the process of enrolment</p>
</blockquote>

<p>where biometric information is defined as</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>photograph,  finger  print,  Iris  scan,  or such other biological
  attributes of an individual as may be specified by regulations</p>
</blockquote>

<p>and demographic information</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>includes information relating to the name, date of birth, address and
  other relevant information of an individual, as may be specified by
  regulations for the purpose of issuing an Aadhaar number, <em>but shall
  not include race, religion, caste, tribe, ethnicity, language, records
  of entitlement, income or medical history</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>So there is no authority to require inclusion of religion, nor is it included according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aadhaar" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this description</a>. The <a href="https://uidai.gov.in/images/aadhaar_enrolment_correction_form_version_2.1.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">enrollment / correction form</a> does not include religion. <a href="https://uidai.gov.in/your-aadhaar.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">UIDAI also asserts</a> that the Aadhaar number "s devoid of any intelligence and does not profile people based on caste, religion, income, health and geography". There does <a href="https://thewire.in/24713/aadhaar-identification-simplified-myths-busted/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">seem to be a meme</a> to the effect that Aadhaar "profiles" people for caste and religion.</p>

<p>It is not clear whether scribbling a religion on the enrollment form would render the form invalid. More likely, it would simply be ignored.</p>
