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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".

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

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

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

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-need-to-mention-our-religion-in-exam-application-forms

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 Does India force you with the choice of a few official religions in the govt cerificates and ID's.

Can a person state their religion as "not willing to disclose" or "none"?

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

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  • linked it might be a duplicate. – user4460 Oct 8 '17 at 3:38
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    @notstoreboughtdirt That is about civil code and this is about changing your religion to "pastafarianism" or "Scientology" in the government issued IDs and certificates. – Wally Oct 8 '17 at 11:35
  • As far as I can tell, we can't tell whether it's possible. I can't even tell if religion is a field to fill in on the form. I do know that the government does not approve or disapprove religions. – user6726 Oct 8 '17 at 13:42
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Under the Aadhaar Act 2016, Ch. II (3)(1)

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

where biometric information is defined as

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

and demographic information

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, but shall not include race, religion, caste, tribe, ethnicity, language, records of entitlement, income or medical history

So there is no authority to require inclusion of religion, nor is it included according to this description. The enrollment / correction form does not include religion. UIDAI also asserts that the Aadhaar number "s devoid of any intelligence and does not profile people based on caste, religion, income, health and geography". There does seem to be a meme to the effect that Aadhaar "profiles" people for caste and religion.

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

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