BehanVox: Revising The Idea Of An Indian Citizen
This week in BehanVox: how Arunachal's women healers are saving plants from extinction, China's crackdown on female erotica writers, and more
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Hello and welcome to BehanVox. The question of citizenship has been an intensely fraught one, more so over the last six years. It started with the exercise of National register of Citizens in Assam and exploded into the Citizenship Amendment Act and protests against it. In recent times, Bengali speaking working class is being criminalised as ‘illegal immigrants’ in many parts of India. Of course, all this is aimed at othering one particular religious identity — Muslims. But, Pandora’s box, once opened, consumes other identities too. This week, we bring you a story from the Seemanchal region of Bihar, on the Indo-Nepal border, where a hastily called for revision of electoral rolls, apart from many marginalised communities, is raising the question of identity and citizenship of thousands of Nepali women married to Indian men.
Before we delve deep, we would like to inform you that we will be taking a short publishing break to rest and recharge our batteries. It is a conscious policy we have put in place to care for ourselves as much as we care for all the feminist journalism we do. The next issue of BehanVox will reach your inboxes on August 10.
Until then, stay well!
Story So Far
The Melchi river is all that separates Reena Devi’s home that straddles two countries. Her parental home is in Nepal’s Jhapa district sits on one bank and her husband’s family that lives in Bihar’s Kishanganj district sits on the other. For two decades she has been shuttling across borders; in summers, she treks across the dry river bed and when the rains swell the waters, she takes a boat.
No one asked her on either side to prove her binational identity – it was seamless. Then came the much-debated decision of the Election Commission to undertake the Special Intensive Revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls and now Reena Devi is not so sure where she belongs.
Under central government laws, women like Reena Devi, can apply for a citizenship registration if they are married to an Indian citizen and have been living in the country for seven years. But so far, few bothered with this registration because at an informal level, Nepalese women married to Indian citizens are added to the voter list through a straightforward process. They are also issued Aadhaar and other documents such as ration cards.
Reporters Tanzil Asif and Umesh Kumar Ray walk into a village along Mechi, dotted with mostly thatched homes, where they interview many women like Reena, of Nepalese origin but married into Indian families and with homes here. They were all worried with confusion and anxiety writ large on their faces.
“Ab agar mor naam hate dile te dikkat chhe, bhot ni duva paale hamra ginti ni rohnu na sarkarot. Ura te dikkat chhe na, proof banwa hobe na. Koe suvidha ni dibe (if my name is removed, I won’t get to vote and will not have a say in the formation of the government),” says Reena.
The ECI, in a counter affidavit filed in the Supreme Court has said that ‘Under the SIR exercise, the citizenship of an individual will not terminate on account of the fact that he/ she is held to be ineligible for registration in the electoral rolls.’ But it would still leave thousands like Reena disenfranchised.
Read our story here.
The Eastern Himalayas, along with the Western Ghats, make for two of India’s richest botanical hotspots with rare plant species. Arunachal Pradesh that nestles in the Eastern Himalayas, has over 500 types of medicinal plants that have anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and anti-microbial properties.
But the hillsides and forests of Arunachal that once grew these plants, used in the traditional healing systems of the Adi people, have been hit by climate change. The forests and hillsides are slowly changing shape and form. A state assessment says that the forest types of many forested districts are going to change by the 2030s due to climate distress.
In the midst of this, groups of women led self help groups are working on protecting and regrowing these threatened plants. It was Yanung Jamoh Lego, a famous folk healer, who pioneered the movement that celebrates the agrarian traditions of foraging, harvesting and eating. She does this by promoting the raising of kitchen gardens in the villages of East Siang district. She has formed around 80 SHGs since 2005, when she was an officer with the Arunachal Pradesh’s agriculture department.
“My father, who was a folk healer, knew better than me about herbal medicine. I don’t know whether my children can live up to the knowledge I have. There is a degradation of our indigenous knowledge. I am preparing these nurseries through the people to preserve whatever remains,” says Yanung.
Aatreyee Dhar reports on the unique initiative led by women healers of Arunachal to save these plants and a whole way of life from extinction.
Read our story here.
Talking Point
China Crack Downs On Female Writers: Chairman Xi Jinping’s push to impose “traditional Chinese values” on his Marxist Communist society has led to some overzealous officers throwing women writers of steamy sexual fiction, mostly educated, middle class and in their twenties, in jail. So far, some 300 writers have been arrested in the city of Lanzhou in Gansu Province, alone.
Delhi’s Long Wait For Trans Rights Ends: After a five-year delay, the Delhi government has issued the Delhi Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2025, aligning with the central law enacted in 2019. These rules aim to protect transgender individuals from discrimination and ensure their rights in education, employment, healthcare, and public services. The new framework allows transgender persons to obtain identity certificates online without medical examinations and sets the foundation for forming a Transgender Welfare Board.
Arrest Warrants For Taliban Leaders: On July 8, 2025, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, charging them with crimes against humanity. These stem from systemic restrictions on women’s rights in Afghanistan, including bans on girls’ education, limits on work and travel, enforced disappearances, and gender-based violence targeting women and LGBTQI+ individuals.
BehanVox Recommends
Politics of Surveillance: Tracking India’s digitised welfare push, Hera Rizwan pens how facial recognition technology is turning food access into a daily battle for mothers, children, and the women tasked with delivering food to them.
From Climate to Nationalism: In this long read, journalist Makepeace Sitlhou analyses the narrative of Licypriya Kangujam, deemed the Greta Thunberg of India, and tracks how the teenager has moved from a “climate warrior” to supporting nationalist politics online, portraying Meiteis as victims of the Manipur conflict.
PoSH Exceptions: For The Print, Ruchi Bhattar speaks to the legal fraternity after the Bombay High Court ruled that women lawyers cannot invoke Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act against male colleagues.
Feeling the Heat: With the maximum temperature on June 9 in Chennai hitting 36 degree celsius, four workers speak about heat stress compounded by high humidity. With inputs from Arduino Nano devices, this interactive from The Hindu shows how heat and humidity combine to affect our bodies and minds.
Buried Crime: Sharan Poovanna investigates the story of mass graves in the temple town of Dharmasthala in Karnataka, after decades of hushed conversations of rape, murders and frequent washing up of bodies on the Nethravathi. Meanwhile, the state government has initiated a probe into the matter, after it was brought to light by a sanitation worker on the temple premises.
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