UNIVERSAL CIVIL REGISTRATION BY 2030: FROM COUNTING PEOPLE TO EMPOWERING CITIZENS

THE CONTEXT: At the Third Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Bangkok (24-26 June 2025) Asia–Pacific governments unanimously pledged that every birth and every death in the region will be registered by 2030. The Declaration rides on a decade of gains that cut the number of unregistered under-five children from 135 million (2012) to 51 million (2024) and lifted 29 countries to >90 % birth-registration and 30 countries to >90 % death-registration levels.

THE BACKGROUND:

• • Civil registration is the continuous, permanent, compulsory and universal recording of vital events (Births-Deaths-Marriages-Divorces) under the law (UN definition). A complete CRVS system satisfies SDG 16.9: “provide legal identity for all, including birth registration, by 2030”.

THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

What, Why & How of CRVS

• • What? A legally backed information infrastructure capturing real-time demographic events.
  • Why? Evidence-based planning, inclusive service delivery, human-rights safeguards and disaster response.
  • How? Laws (e.g., Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969), interoperable digital platforms, trained registrars, and community mobilisers.

THE RECENT INDIAN REFORMS:

THE CURRENT SCENARIO

• • Asia–Pacific: 14 million babies still miss birth registration in their first year; about 6.9 million deaths go unrecorded annually, mostly outside facilities.
  • India:
    • Birth-registration completeness grew from 82.4 % (2011) to >96 % (2024); death-registration ~ 90 % but medically certified causes lag at 21 %.
    • Vital Statistics Report 2022 shows intra-state disparities: eight States already at 100 % birth-registration, tribal belts still trail.

THE SIGNIFICANCE:

• • Governance Dividend: real-time, disaggregated data strengthens fiscal federalism, disaster management and delimitation fairness.
  • Social Justice: birth certificates deter child marriage, trafficking and child-labour (UNICEF).
  • Health Security: medically certified cause-of-death (MCCD) data sharpens epidemiological response (e.g., COVID-19 excess-mortality estimation).
  • Digital Economy Enabler: seamless KYC for financial inclusion and Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfers.

Drivers of Progress

• • Political commitment (Bangkok 2025 Declaration)
  • Digital Public Goods – Aadhaar stack, DigiLocker, API-based verification
  • South-South learning platforms (ESCAP “Get Everyone in the Picture”)
  • Conditional cash transfers (e.g., Philippine Pantawid Pamilya) that require birth certificates

GLOBAL BEST PRACTICES:

THE ISSUES:

• • Sub-national asymmetry: North-eastern & tribal districts show <85 % completeness despite national average >90 %.
  • Digital Divide: Patchy internet & power supply hampers real-time uploads from Community Health Centres.
  • Data-quality deficits: Only one-fifth of registered deaths have medically certified causes, skewing health-policy priorities.
  • Privacy & Surveillance Concerns: Integration with National Population Register without a comprehensive data-protection regime may erode trust.
  • Institutional fragmentation: Multiplicity of registrars (health, panchayat, municipalities) causes duplication and under-reporting.
  • Sociocultural barriers: Patriarchal norms, homebirths and distrust of authorities among migrant & nomadic communities.
  • Resource gaps: Shortage of trained registrars, limited budget lines in many States for CRVS modernisation.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• • Women-led Mobile Registration Units: Equip SEWA and Self-Help Group vans with biometric kits for on-site registration at weekly haats. Pay performance-based grants for each certificate issued. These leverages trusted female intermediaries to cross gender and cultural barriers.
  • Mandatory Birth-Certificate-Before-Discharge Protocol: Enforce the 12 June 2025 Registrar-General directive in all public and empanelled private hospitals, integrating the Civil Registration System (CRS) portal with hospital Health Management Information Systems. Install auto-alerts for births not registered within 48 hours. Real-time dashboards enable district magistrates to plug gaps.
  • Urban Slum Digital Kiosks: Set up Aadhaar-enabled service kiosks in Urban Primary Health Centres staffed by civic volunteers. Provide offline data capture with periodic sync to overcome connectivity problems. A MoHUA–NIC MoU can fund kiosks from the Smart Cities Mission.
  • Gender-Neutral Documentation Rules: Issue a uniform circular across states stating that mother’s Aadhaar or PAN is sufficient for birth registration. Launch a multilingual awareness campaign through Anganwadi centres. This removes patriarchal veto and benefits single, abandoned or widowed mothers.
  • Inter-Operable Data Architecture: Implement an Application Programming Interface (API) layer—the “CRVS spine”—that auto-updates welfare databases (Public Distribution System, electoral rolls) while employing role-based access to minimise misuse. Adopt privacy-by-design standards notified under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. This balances inclusivity with civil-liberties safeguards.
  • Community Report Cards: Publish ward-level report cards displaying registration completeness, sex ratio at birth and time-to-certificate. Partner with resident welfare associations and women’s collectives for social audits. Public shaming and peer learning drive local accountability.

THE CONCLUSION:

A universal, trusted CRVS system elevates India from welfare delivery by estimation to delivery by enumeration, strengthens cooperative federalism, and equips policymakers with granular evidence for demographic dividend management. Conversely, failure to plug the last 10 % risks perpetuating exclusion, data-blind policymaking and rights-denial.

UPSC PAST YEAR QUESTION:

Q. Discuss the main objectives of Population Education and point out the measures to achieve them in India in detail. 2021

MAINS PRACTICE QUESTION: 

Q. Discuss the major bottlenecks in achieving complete and accurate registration of births and deaths and suggest measures to overcome them.

SOURCE:

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/in-bangkok-a-commitment-from-asia-pacific-nations-to-count-every-single-birth-and-death/article69739513.ece#:~:text=Governments%20across%20Asia%20and%20the,Pacific%2C%20at%20Bangkok%2C%20Thailand.