The recent annual report from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has highlighted plans by the Central government to overhaul the Civil Registration System (CRS). The proposed amendments aim to enable real-time birth and death registration with minimal human intervention and irrespective of location. These changes are to be directed by the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD) Act, 1969.
Understanding Civil Registration System
CRS in India is a unified process designed for the continuous, permanent, compulsory, and universal recording of vital events, including births, deaths, and stillbirths. This system plays a pivotal role in generating essential data for socio-economic planning.
The Need for Changes in the CRS
Amendments to the CRS are necessitated by the need to update the National Population Register (NPR), initially collated in 2010 and updated in 2015 with details such as Aadhaar, mobile, and ration card numbers. This update aims to incorporate changes due to birth, death, and migration.
Challenges Faced by the Existing CRS
The current CRS experiences challenges in efficiency, accuracy, and uniformity. Issues such as delayed and under-coverage of births and deaths have been identified. To improve service delivery to the public, the Government of India seeks to introduce transformational changes through an IT-enabled backbone, enabling real-time registration of births and deaths with minimum human intervention.
Proposed Automation and Time-Bound System
The proposed amendments aim to automate process delivery points, making services timely, uniform, and free from discretion. These changes will be sustainable, scalable, and independent of the location.
Implications of the Proposed Amendments to the RBD Act
The proposed changes also include amendments to the RBD Act, which will facilitate the maintenance of a database of registered births and deaths at the national level. This database can then be used to update the Population Register, Electoral Register, Aadhaar, Ration Card, Passport, and Driving License databases. Currently, the registration of birth and death is mandatory under the RBD Act, while the Chief Registrar is mandated to publish a statistical report on the registered births and deaths each year.
Looking to the Future
Achieving a techno-utopian model of governance, where the government provides services to citizens proactively, requires the creation of a unified population database. This database would enable effective real-time tracking of individuals. The proposed CRS upgrades are steps toward this vision, aiming to improve data accuracy, service delivery, and efficiency. The amendments, once executed, would lead to a significant transformation in civil registration and related administrative processes.