Among the significant laws passed by Parliament in its recently concluded monsoon session was the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill. Under the current framework, details of births and deaths are registered by states and Union Territories in their individual databases, maintained on the Civil Registration System.
The 2023 amendment seeks to change and centralise the system by creating a pan-Indian database of births and deaths of citizens. The amendments to Section 3 make it obligatory for states to
Among the significant laws passed by Parliament in its recently concluded monsoon session was the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill. Under the current framework, details of births and deaths are registered by states and Union Territories in their individual databases, maintained on the Civil Registration System.
The 2023 amendment seeks to change and centralise the system by creating a pan-Indian database of births and deaths of citizens. The amendments to Section 3 make it obligatory for states to share data of births and deaths with the Registrar General of India as part of a centralised national database.
With prior approval of the Union government, this centralised database may also be used to update other databases relating to population (National Population Register), electoral rolls, Aadhaar numbers (Central Identities Data Repository), ration cards, passports, driving licences, property registration, and any other national database that may be notified by the government. Updating such databases is intended to result in “efficient and transparent delivery of public services and social benefits.”
However, this “efficiency” in linking national databases raises serious concerns about 360-degree surveillance, allowing the government to track citizens from cradle to grave. Imagine a situation where all the above databases are integrated — the government would have information about when a citizen was born, where they reside, where they vote, where they buy property, whether they avail ration, and their Aadhaar and passport number. Such real-time, centralised information and detailed individual profiles at the fingertips of the State raises the threat of misuse.
The expansion in State power has to be viewed alongside the provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Law, which exempts the State from seeking consent from data principals if it is for the performance of any state function or if the personal data is part of any database maintained by the government. Thus, the use of personal data collected as part of the 2023 amendment will effectively be unencumbered, and can be used by any State agency for any purpose. Instant sharing of personal and sensitive personal data across government databases will further increase asymmetry in State power, and likely come up against the 2017 Supreme Court (SC) verdict on the right to privacy.
An amendment to Section 17 aims to prospectively establish the birth certificate as a single document to prove the date and place of birth of an individual seeking admission to educational institutions, driving licences, voter lists, marriage registration, government appointments, or issuance of passport and Aadhaar number. This is intended to “enhance the public convenience” and “avoid multiplicity of documents”.
However, making the provision of essential and basic services (including access to education and voting) contingent on everyone in the country having a birth certificate is onerous. It ignores the reality that even as of 2019, the registration of births is only around 92.7%. Excluding a small, but significant, proportion of the population from access to basic services — some of which, such as voting, are written into the Constitution — is discriminatory.
This is even more problematic considering that the 2023 amendment does not have any provisions to deal with exclusions. Additionally, the centralisation of registration, without any element of discretion, ignores the practical problems (including corruption) that may arise at the local level. A survey in Bihar in 2022 reported that applicants were being asked to pay bribes to obtain birth and death certificates that were otherwise free.
The final issue with the 2023 amendment is the requirement to provide the Aadhaar number of “parents and the informant, if available, in case of birth.” Thus, the Aadhaar number of parents will now inextricably and mandatorily be linked to their children, regardless of their consent. This is contrary to the 2018 judgment of the SC, which clearly held that the provision of linking of Aadhaar number is clearly voluntary, except for specific circumstances (of payment of income tax or receipt of welfare/benefits/subsidies).
As we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to have a comprehensive and up to date national registry of births and deaths. However, the provisions in the 2023 amendment are not the way forward.
Vrinda Bhandari is a Delhi-based advocate. The views expressed are personal
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