Editor's Pick: Government plans to make birth certificate mandatory for jobs, voting, and more

Dear reader, We have now made it easier for you to manage your The Hindu newsletter subscriptions in one place! Visit The Hindu newsletters page here Click MANAGE tab and then click LOGIN / SIGN UP If you don’t have an account with The Hindu, please click SIGN UP OR If you already have an account with The Hindu with this email ID, please login using the email ID. The Union government has plans to make birth certificates a mandatory document for almost every sphere of life. These will include admission into educational institutions, inclusion in the voter list, appointment in Central and State government jobs, issue of driving licence and passport, as per a draft Bill to amend the Registration of Birth and Death (RBD) Act, 1969. Even though the registration of births and deaths is already compulsory under the RBD Act and violating it is a punishable offence, the government wants to improve compliance by making the registration mandatory to access basic services. The proposed amendment also covers death certificates and makes it compulsory for hospitals to give a copy of all death certificates, stating the cause of death, to the local registrar apart from the relative of the deceased. The Hindu had reported last year that with the draft amendments, the Act would enable the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the MHA to “maintain a database of registered birth and deaths at the national level”, even though such data is maintained by State governments or municipal bodies. The national level database will be linked to electoral rolls, according to an official source, and when a person turns 18, the name will be included in the voters’ list and after a person has died, the name will be deleted from the rolls. The draft Bill was placed before the public last year for suggestions and the source informed that recommendations of State governments have been incorporated in the draft. The Bill is likely to be tabled in the Winter Session of Parliament that commences on December 7. Notably, if the amendments are implemented, the Centre could use the data to update the National Population Register (NPR) that was first prepared in 2010 and revised through door-to-door enumeration in 2015. The NPR already contains a database of 119 crore residents and under the Citizenship Rules, 2003. It is also the first step towards the creation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC). The exercise of creating an NRC has only been carried out in Assam so far, where, despite being supervised by the Supreme Court, it had to be revised thrice and still left out about 1.9 million people. Parties across the political sphere had taken exception to the exercise and the proposal of NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act had triggered widespread protests in 2019. While the Home Ministry had informed Parliament late last year that it had not taken any decision on the creation of a nationwide NRC, the draft Bill for a national database of registered births and deaths could be a prequel to the exercise. The Hindu’s Explainers Explained | Why is the Darjeeling tea industry in crisis? Explained | What does the new draft on online reviews outline? The Hindu Daily News Quiz How many days of unskilled are guaranteed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act, 2005? 150 100 300 200 To know the answer and to play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 27 NOVEMBER 2022 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Government plans to make birth certificate mandatory for jobs, voting, and more Dear reader, We have now made it easier for you to manage your The Hindu newsletter subscriptions in one place! Visit The Hindu newsletters page [here]( Click MANAGE tab and then click LOGIN / SIGN UP If you don’t have an account with The Hindu, please click SIGN UP OR If you already have an account with The Hindu with this email ID, please login using the email ID. The Union government [has plans to make]( birth certificates a mandatory document for almost every sphere of life. These will include admission into educational institutions, inclusion in the voter list, appointment in Central and State government jobs, issue of driving licence and passport, as per a draft Bill to amend the Registration of Birth and Death (RBD) Act, 1969. Even though the registration of births and deaths is already compulsory under the RBD Act and violating it is a punishable offence, the government wants to improve compliance by making the registration mandatory to access basic services. The proposed amendment also covers death certificates and makes it compulsory for hospitals to give a copy of all death certificates, stating the cause of death, to the local registrar apart from the relative of the deceased. The Hindu [had reported last year]( that with the draft amendments, the Act would enable the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the MHA to “maintain a database of registered birth and deaths at the national level”, even though such data is maintained by State governments or municipal bodies. The national level database will be linked to electoral rolls, according to an official source, and when a person turns 18, the name will be included in the voters’ list and after a person has died, the name will be deleted from the rolls. The draft Bill was placed before the public last year for suggestions and the source informed that recommendations of State governments have been incorporated in the draft. The Bill is likely to be tabled in the Winter Session of Parliament that commences on December 7. Notably, if the amendments are implemented, the Centre could use the data to update the National Population Register (NPR) that was first prepared in 2010 and revised through door-to-door enumeration in 2015. The NPR already contains a database of 119 crore residents and under the Citizenship Rules, 2003. It is also the first step towards the creation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC). The exercise of creating an NRC has only been carried out in Assam so far, where, despite being supervised by the Supreme Court, it had to be revised thrice and still left out about 1.9 million people. Parties across the political sphere had taken exception to the exercise and the proposal of NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act had triggered widespread protests in 2019. While the Home Ministry had informed Parliament late last year that it had not taken any decision on the creation of a nationwide NRC, the draft Bill for a national database of registered births and deaths could be a prequel to the exercise. The Hindu’s Explainers [Arrow][Explained | Why is the Darjeeling tea industry in crisis?]( [Arrow][Explained | What does the new draft on online reviews outline?]( The Hindu Daily News Quiz How many days of unskilled are guaranteed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act, 2005? - 150 - 100 - 300 - 200 To know the answer and to play the full quiz, [click here.]( Today’s Best Reads [[Birth certificate to be made mandatory for jobs, driving licence, passport, voting right] Birth certificate to be made mandatory for jobs, driving licence, passport, voting right]( [[India is the lone absentee at China’s Indian Ocean forum of 19 countries] India is the lone absentee at China’s Indian Ocean forum of 19 countries]( [[Children from tribal communities in Kerala kick-off their football dreams with help from sports personalities] Children from tribal communities in Kerala kick-off their football dreams with help from sports personalities]( [[FIFA World Cup 2022 | Messi magic guides relieved Argentina past Mexico] FIFA World Cup 2022 | Messi magic guides relieved Argentina past Mexico]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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