Rush Hour: HC says PAN, voter IDs alone aren’t citizenship proof, UP CM defends fireworks & more
Become a Scroll member to get Rush Hour – a wrap of the day’s important stories delivered straight to your inbox every evening.
Black News 
Could your home be at risk from rising seas? Scroll is investigating coastal flooding in Mumbai and Kolkata, mapping vulnerable areas and examining whether developers and the authorities are accounting for the risks. Support this investigation and help us make this reporting possible. Fund the project here.
The Gauhati High Court has held that Permanent Account Number cards and voter ID cards alone cannot establish citizenship unless supported by the records used to issue them. The court made the observation on November 5, while dismissing a petition filed by a woman challenging a tribunal order that had declared her a foreigner.
A bench noted that PAN cards and Electoral Photo Identity Cards are issued on the basis of self-declarations, without formal verification by the Income Tax Department or the Election Commission. “Therefore, unless the records supplementing the PAN Card and EPIC are proved, the said exhibited documents cannot be accepted as a proof of citizenship of India,” the bench said. Read on.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath said that pollution caused by firecrackers during Diwali was “not a problem” as it would eventually “subside”. Adityanath’s statement came as Noida and Ghaziabad in the national capital region have recorded worsening pollution levels over the past few...
