Arunachal Christians Protest SBI Software Marking Them ‘General’ Instead of ‘ST’, Warn of Agitation
The state's top Christian organisation asserted in a written letter to the SBI regional manager in Itanagar on October 5.
By Sakshi
New Delhi, October 7: The Arunachal Christian Forum has accused the State Bank of India's (SBI) digital banking software of automatically classifying them as "General" upon marking their religion, preventing them from choosing the "Scheduled Tribe" option when applying for account opening and KYC updates. It has warned of agitations if the public sector bank does not make the necessary technological fixes within 15 days.
The state's top Christian organisation asserted in a written letter to the SBI regional manager in Itanagar on October 5 that the software disables the "Scheduled Tribe" option and labels applicants as "General" when they select "Christian" as their religion.
Terming the software behaviour "potentially discriminatory", the Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) emphasised that under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, tribal status in Arunachal Pradesh is not contingent on religious affiliation.
"The State Bank of India is not the competent authority to de-list a tribal Christian customer who possesses a valid ST certificate. SBI cannot automatically classify a tribal Christian under the General category solely based on their declared religion," it stated.
The forum urged SBI authorities to examine the onboarding logic, clarify whether any regulatory or Reserve Bank of India directive permits such classification, and rectify the software to prevent religion and tribal status from being treated as mutually exclusive.
The ACF has set a 15-day deadline for the bank to communicate corrective action, warning of agitations across all SBI branches in Arunachal Pradesh if the issue remains unresolved.
(Inputs from PTI)
