Birth Certificate To Become Vital For Education, Voting And Jobs In India With Amendments To 54-Year-Old Law

Starting from 1 October, 2023, the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023 will be in effect.

This Act allows using a birth certificate as a single document for various purposes like school admissions, getting a driver's license, voter registration, obtaining an Aadhaar number, registering marriages, and securing government job appointments.

Its main goal is to create state and national databases of registered births and deaths.

After being introduced in 1969, the 54-year-old law has finally been updated through a Bill that has been passed by Parliament and received approval from the President of India.

The government asserts that this amendment will enhance citizens' access to free rations and other subsidies, while eliminating duplications in the existing database.

However, privacy advocates have expressed concerns that some sections of the population may be left out of this database.

The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023 aims to establish a centralised database for births and deaths, facilitating transparent public service delivery and database updates.

It may also be shared with other authorities maintaining databases like population registers, electoral rolls, ration cards, and other national databases.

Moreover, the Act creates the position of Registrar-General, India, responsible for issuing general directions regarding birth and death registration and maintaining the national database.

According to Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, the existing birth and death law had not been updated since 1969, highlighting the importance of digitising the databases for streamlining processes.

Critics argue that linking Aadhaar details of parents and the birth informants to the child's birth certificate violates the right to privacy. Privacy concerns also arise from linking an individual's Aadhaar across multiple databases, potentially without their consent.

The Bill proposes that the birth certificate should be the sole valid proof of age, affecting voting, ration access, school admissions, and government job applications.

However, challenges may arise in cases where a child's birth was registered, but they lost their parents or ran away, making it difficult to determine their age for school enrollment.