Check New Birth Registration Rule: Centre To Record Parents’ Religion Separately

The recording of the religion of both the child's father and mother will now be required when registering a child's birth, as per Model Rules drafted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. These Rules need to be adopted and notified by State governments before implementation.

Previously, only the family's religion was recorded in birth registers. The proposed "Form No.1-Birth Report" will expand the column requiring a tick mark selection for the child's religion to now include stating the "religion of father" and "religion of mother". Similar changes have been made for parents of an adopted child, as reported by The Hindu.

New Birth Registration Rule- Everything You Need To Know

As per the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023, passed by Parliament on August 11 last year, the birth and death database will be maintained at the national level and may be utilized to update the National Population Register (NPR), electoral rolls, Aadhaar number, ration card, passport, driving licence, property registration, and other notified databases.

Digital Registration of Births and Deaths: The law, which became effective on October 1 last year, mandates that all reported births and deaths in the country are to be digitally registered through the Centre's portal for the Civil Registration System (crsorgi.gov.in).

Use of Digital Birth Certificates: Digital birth certificates issued under this system will serve as a single document to prove the date of birth for various services, including admission to educational institutions, reported The Hindu.

Proposed Changes by Registrar General of India (RGI): The office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has proposed substituting the existing forms related to the registration of births, deaths, still births, adoptions, and the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) as per the draft rules. The MCCD will now include the "history of illness, if any," apart from the actual cause of death.

Here are the following things to keep in mind:

Statistical and Legal Information: Any birth register comprises two parts: legal information and statistical information. The information on the parents' religion is to be maintained for statistical purposes.

Expanded Birth Register Form: The birth register form pertaining to legal information has been expanded to record the Aadhaar number, and the mobile and e-mail IDs of both the parents, "if available". The address box has been made more descriptive to contain the name of the State, district, sub-district, town or village, ward number (in case of town and if available), locality, house number, and PIN code.

Details Required from Informant: The "informant" providing the information will also have to furnish their Aadhaar and mobile numbers, and email address, along with the name and address details which were earlier required.

Maintenance of National Database: According to the 2023 amendment, the database of registered births and deaths will be maintained at the national level by the RGI, and it is obligatory upon the Chief Registrars and the Registrars to share the data of registered births and deaths to such a database.

Coordination by Registrar General of India (RGI): Under the parent Act - the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 - the RGI has been empowered to take steps to coordinate and unify the activities of Chief Registrars, who are appointed by State governments. Civil Registration System (CRS) functionaries are appointed up to the panchayat level.

Compilation of Vital Statistics: The CRS data is also utilized to compile the annual 'Vital Statistics of India Based On The Civil Registration System' report, which makes public the data regarding sex ratio at birth, infant mortality, still-births and deaths, at the national level. This data is used by the government for socio-economic planning and to evaluate the effectiveness of various social sector programmes; it also serves as the cornerstone of the public health system.