KOCHI: When the statement of education minister Ravindranath on the number of students shedding their caste and religious identity while joining schools raised many an eyebrow, the birth certificates issued from 2010 to 2016 in the state prove otherwise.The data accessed by TOI from the directorate of economics and statistics show that more and more people prefer to raise their children by clinging on to the religion or caste they belong to. In 2010, as many as 1,806 birth certificates were issued without mentioning caste or religion of the baby in the state. While the number of live births registered in that year was 5,46,964.From 2011, the number of birth certificates issued without mentioning caste or religion of the baby suddenly started to fall to below 500. Only 224 such birth certificates were issued in 2011 when the live births registered was 5,60,268. The number came down to 167 and 146 in 2012 and 2013 when the live births were 5,50,411and 5,36,352, respectively.In 2014, 196 births were registered without mentioning caste or religion. The number saw some rise in 2015 when 430 such certificates were issued. But it again declined to 222 in 2016, where the number of live births was 4,96,292.“The directorate is not associated with the details released in the assembly recently. We collect the data on live births from Sevana , the software of the local self-government department,” said additional chief registrar P Babu. The directorate collects details from Kochi corporation in person.Writer-activist M N Karassery said it was the nouveau riche culture in Kerala that led more people clinging on to their religion or caste. “Instead of gender, nationality or the region where he/she was born, one prefers caste or religion for his/her identity. I think this scenario will change in the next generation,” Karassery said.Writer C Ravichandran said at times the government ‘forces people to declare their caste and religion even though they did not want to’. He narrated a personal experience. “A few weeks ago, there was an enumeration of the UGC in the college where I am teaching. I refused to fill the column on caste/religion in the form. When the higher officials in the college put pressure on me to fill it, I wrote ‘homo sapien’. But they were not happy. I refused to budge from my stand,” he said.