A birth certificate should be the first priority after having a baby. A child’s identity must be registered with the National Population Register of the country. The birth certificate in India has been made compulsory documents for many purposes such as getting admission or employment. In this case, it becomes important to know the details associated with the birth certificates, India.
The authorities responsible for Birth Certificate in India:
The process of registration of Birth Certificate in India is not a central responsibility anymore. The registration process is taken care of by the states and Union Territories, handled by the chief registrars in the following states. However, the overall data is compiled and managed at a central level by the Registrar General. It is important to allow only one entry in the National Population Register so that the data remain unique.
At the basic level, the whole process is carried out by the sub- registrars.
Birth certificate, India for people living in abroad:
- The Indian missions situated in abroad can be called, for registering a birth certificate, by people living in abroad. There is no stipulated time for this service.
- The citizenship act, in section 4 allows the registration of birth from abroad even after one year. This is also been officially stated by the hoke ministry.
Unregistered births and deaths:
According to a statement released by a think tank called Brookings India, it has been noted that all the births and deaths are not currently registered in India. This may be a result of poverty and poor infrastructure in various districts.
The most affected chunk of the population by the unregistered birth are the students/children who haven’t passed 10th or 12th exams yet, as they lack even the mark sheets as a proof of date of birth. They have an only birth certificate as their hope for their nationality and identity.
Dipa Sinha, an assistant professor in the BR AMBEDKAR UNIVERSITY explained that even after the Right to Education, that states everyone has right to education, no documents required, the birth certificate requirement by various educational institutions becomes a problem.
Many children suffer as their parents are unable to provide with a birth certificate, later in their life.
Many people express genuine concern over linking the fundamental existence of a person to a piece of paper.
Some facts:
- 84.9% of all birth has been registered in 2017. The registered deaths were 79.6%. Notable there has been a gap between the total population and the registered population of India.
- Birth certificate in India is the only official tracker of the population, maintaining all the records of birth.
- According to a report presented by UNICEF in the year 2019, India is one of the five democratic republic nations where the unregistered cases of birth are about 166 million. These statistics are not very appealing.
- In the last five years, there are 24 million estimated children below the age of 5 whose birth have not been registered, said by UNICEF. This also implies they lack the only proof of their existence ‘birth certificate’.
