The Retraction of Rights and Exclusions Even before the policy change, from 2017, public and political discourse regarding refugee rights deteriorated and refugees were increasingly refused Aadhaar by issuing officials. Without these cards, many Rohingyas have consequently been refused access to basic education, health, banking and other essential services — despite Aadhaar not having a legal mandatory status, and despite basic services being protected as a human right in India and internationally. Some Rohingyas have also been arrested or harassed by police authorities for apparently ‘fraudulently’ obtaining Aadhaar. A Delhibased Rohingya refugee recounted his experience in 2017: “ People who have got Aadhaar without refugee card or LTV, police can catch them for fraud and even UNHCR can’t help... Once the police stopped me and asked for the refugee card and when I was taking out the card, the Aadhaar card also came out. He said that you aren’t allowed to get Aadhaar. He also said it’s not written here that you can get Aadhaar but eventually I showed him that it’s not for citizenship. So he let me go.51 Aadhaar also delegates identity documentation checking responsibilities to landlords, employers and local bureaucrats — leaving refugees exposed to arbitrary exclusions and harassment by private companies and individuals, based on discriminatory profiling.52 There is also anecdotal evidence of the denial of primary education access to exams for refugee children, based on the parents not having Aadhaar (or having Aadhaar but not being accepted as valid holders). A Rohingya community leader has been trying to bring this to the attention of the authorities and noted that ‘for students, delay in clarification means losing precious time and academic year’.53 “ [In 2017] I got selected, after a trial, in a big local football club here in Hyderabad but since I don’t have Aadhaar I couldn’t join them. … [D]uring the time of taking our details, they asked me whether I have Aadhaar or a passport. When I replied that I only have a refugee card – they still tried by reaching out to the Indian Football Federation, which eventually rejected the request.54 Without a chance of ever having ‘valid documents’ under the law, Rohingyas are at the mercy of local officials’ humanitarian support to escape harassment and detention.55 As a Rohingya woman in Hyderabad explained: “ [M]y husband was caught by a policeman who was going to take him away since we did not have any documents that time. It was only when I went there and pleaded with the policeman showing him my small children that he let us go.56 It is important to note in this context, that Objective 4(f) of the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration calls on states to: Review and revise requirements to prove nationality at service delivery centres to ensure that migrants without proof of nationality or legal identity are not precluded from accessing basic services nor denied their human rights.57 For instance, Rohingyas have been arrested for ‘fraudulently’ acquiring identification documents such as AADHAAR, PAN, etc., on the basis of their LTV. See O. Mojumdar, Rohingyas in Telangana ready to surrender ‘fake’ Aadhaar cards, The New Indian Express, (21 February 2020), available at https://www.newindianexpress. com/states/telangana/2020/feb/21/rohingyas-in-telangana-ready-to-surrender-fake-aadhaar-cards-2106501.html [accessed 13/11/2020] 51 Rohingya refugee interview cited in J. Field, A. Tiwari and Y. Mookherjee, ‘Urban refugees in Delhi: identity, entitlements and well-being’ (2017) available at: https:// pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10852IIED.pdf [accessed 13/11/2020] 52 J. Field, A. Tiwari and Y. Mookherjee, ‘Self-reliance as a Concept and Spatial Practice for Urban Refugees: Reflections from Delhi, India’ (2020) 33 Journal of Refugee Studies 1, available at: https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article/33/1/167/5620397 [accessed 13/11/2020] 53 Interview with Rohingya, Hyderabad, India, July 2019 (name withheld); See also on health schemes: F. Abdali, ‘A Comparative Analysis of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Constitution of India’ (2020) in, J. Field and S. Burra, (eds.) The Global Compact on Refugees: Indian Perspectives and Experiences, Academic Working Group and UNHCR India available at: https://www.academia.edu/41865782/The_Global_Compact_on_Refugees_Indian_Perspectives_and_Experiences [accessed 13/11/2020] 54 Interview with Rohingya, Hyderabad, India, August 2019 (name withheld); See also: J. Field, A. Tiwari and Y. Mookherjee, ‘Self-reliance as a Concept and Spatial Practice for Urban Refugees’ (2019) 33 Journal of Refugee Studies 1 available at: https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article/33/1/167/5620397 [accessed 13/11/2020]; A. Tiwari, J. Field and Y. Mookherjee, ‘Urban refugees in Delhi: Refugee networks, faith and well-being’ (2017) IIED Urban Humanitarian Crises Working Paper available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep16605?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents [accessed 01/08/2020]. 55 S. Majumder, ‘The jailed Rohingya in West Bengal’ in S. Basu, R. Chaudhury and R. Samaddar (eds.) The Rohingya in South Asia: People without a State (Routledge 2018); On the role of UNHCR refugee cards in India, see, J. Field, A. Tiwari and Y. Mookherjee, ‘Urban refugees in Delhi: identity, entitlements and well-being’ (2017) available at: https://www.academia.edu/34777885/Urban_refugees_in_Delhi_Identity_entitlements_and_well_being [accessed 13/11/2020] 56 Interview with a Rohingya, Hyderabad, India, August 2019 (name withheld) 50 12 A wide range of opportunities have been impacted by the growing precedence of Aadhaar as an access document. A young Rohingya in Hyderabad who aspired to play professional football, explained: