Centre to make birth certificate mandatory for admission, driving licence, passport

New Delhi: The Central Government is all set to make birth certificate the mandatory document for admission into educational institutes, issuance of driving licence, preparation of voter list, registration of marriage, jobs, and other purposes to ensure the birth date and place details.

A bill providing for the amendment to the Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969, may be introduced in the upcoming winter session, starting on December 7. It sought the opinion of the public and various stakeholders on the proposed amendment last year.

National Data Base

A database concerning birth and death registrations will be set up to facilitate the renewal of data collection documents like the National Population Register (NPR), Voter list, Aadhaar, Ration Card, and Passport.

At present, it’s the state which handles the birth-death registration data. Upon enacting the amendment, all the states will have to hand over the information to the centralized database. The databases will be linked to each other and the information of each of the documents will be updated on the basis of the birth-death data.

For instance, a person will be automatically enrolled in the Voter list upon him/her attaining 18 years of age and the name deleted when he/she dies.

Earlier,the CPM and AIMIM had criticized the amendment charging that the move amounts to an infringement of the rights of the states and that the use of personal information collected for specific purposes for other needs would amount to privacy violation.

Other provisions of the draft amendment

The penalty for refusing to disclose details of the birth-death registrations will be increased from Rs 50 to Rs 1000.

The certificate should be mandatorily given in a week, upon officially providing the birth and death registration details.

The penalty to be levied from Registrar, Sub-Registrar, and Doctor, for failing to issue the certificate, too will be hiked from Rs 50 to Rs 1,000.

The authorities of the hospital, where a death occurs, is required to issue a certificate to the nearest relative and the Registrar regarding the cause of death.

The nod of the district registrar is required if the information on birth or death is conveyed after 30 days, but before one year. Beyond one year, an order of the Executive Magistrate needs to be produced.

An appeal should be given to the district registrar within 30 days if one has any complaint with regard to the Registrar’s action. Similarly, an appeal can be filed before the chief registrar against the district registrar.