Civil registration and vital statistics in india

Vital Statistics from civil registration system in India

1. CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL SATISTICS
DrT R Dilip,
International Institute for Population Sciences
Course C1: Introduction to Demography and History of Population
MBD/MA/MSc/MPS
29
th
Sept 2021

2. CIVIL REGISTRATION SYSTEM
•Registration of births, deaths, marriages, divorces and fetal
deaths
•Primary objective is legal documents of citizens to establish
–Age
–Identity
–Family relationships and inheritance right
–Right to marry (proof for marriage/divorce)
–Evidence of death
•Civil registration records are also the best source of vital
statistics.
•Utility of civil registrations is dependent on coverage and
timeliness

3. Civil Registration
–Based on system of laws
–Primary objective to obtain legal documents required
by law
–Should cover entire population of country
–Records should be registered as vital events occur
–Ideally, personal information on vital records should
be kept confidential

4. CIVIL REGISTRATION SYSTEM IN
INDIA
•Central Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act
1886 in British India (voluntary registration)
•Registration of Births and Death Act (RBD Act) was
enacted in 1969
•Provisions are mandatory and uniform throughout the
country
•Implementation is the responsibility of the State
Governments through State Rules
•Provides legal documents to every individual –birth
/death certificates
•Expected to be linked to National Population Register
in future years

5. Registration Authority in India
•Office of the Registrar General, Ministry of Home
Affairs, Government of India implements the
Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969
•Health Department supervises the civil
registration work at state level in 21 states/UTs
•Department of Planning, Economics and Statistics
in 13 states/UTs
•Local governments in Kerala and Puducherry
(Now 4 States)

6. OBJECTIVES AND USES OF CIVIL REGISTRATION

8. Person responsible for deaths and birth registration
•Event in the household, head of the household, or
his/her nearest relative of head of the households or
oldest male in their absence of both of them
•Event in health facilities: Person in charge or the
person authorized by him
•Institutional population (hostel, ashram, jails, lodges,
resorts etc…): In charge
•For any new-born child or dead body found deserted in
a public place, the headman or other corresponding
officer of the village in the case of a village and officer
in charge of the local police station

9. Time frame for birth and death registration
•No fee for registration, but fees if certificate is required (varies
across states)
•Time to register 21 days of the event (raised from 7 & 14 days in
the past)
•Minor late fess if not registered in 21 days but within 30 days
•30days to 1 years: Documents + Affidavit + prescribed minor
penalty fees
•Beyond 1 years: only on an order made by a magistrate of the first
class or a Presidency Magistrate after verifying the correctness of
the birth or death and on payment of the prescribed fees
•Name of the newborn not necessary at the time of registration, can
be added in 12 months without fees and upto15 years upon
payment of prescribed fees
•On adoption of a child, the name of the adoptive parents and a new
name for the child can be entered in the birth register

10. Vital events among Indian Citizens outside the country
•birth of an Indian Citizen, occurred outside the
country, can also be registered in India within
sixty days of return of the parents at the place
where they intend to settle. After this period, it
could be registered under delayed registration
provisions of the Act.
•no provision to register death of an Indian Citizen
that has occurred outside the country

11. Marriage registration not mandatory in India
•marriage registration exist under
–Hindu Marriages Act, 1955
–Special Marriage Act, 1954,
–Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936,
–Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872
•Spouses are the legal informant to register a
marriage
•No legal obligation to register the marriage
•No centralized compilation of marriage
registration data.

12. Compulsory marriage registration helps in
•better implementation of already existing laws that aim at
preventing child marriage
•eliminating practices such early and forced marriages
•To prevent polygamy, unless the same is permitted under any
law or custom
•To ensure that prior wives get notice of intended marriage
•Enable the married women including the women married to
NRI/ foreigners to claim her right to shelter and maintenance
•achieving gender equality and empowering women
•Law commission of India recommends compulsory registration
of marriage(Report 270, 2017)
https://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/reports/Report270.pdf

13. Data from Civil Registration System
VITAL STATISTICS OF INDIA BASED ON THE CIVIL REGISTRATION
SYSTEM (Annual Publication by the RGI, India)
•presents a compilation of data on registered
(rural-urban & sex-wise )
•Births ,
•Deaths-
•infant deaths
•still births
•sex ratio at birth

14. Births Registered in CRS-India2019
•2.48 Croresbirths registered in 2019
•level of registration of births has increased to
92.7% in 2019 from 82.4% in 2011
•14 Indian States -100% registration
•10/20 major/larger states-> 90 % 43
registration
•Institutional births around -81 %

15. Deaths Registered in CRS-India2019
•76.4 lakhs deaths registered in 2019
•66 % in 2011 to 92% in 2019
•19 Indian States/UTs -100% registration
•13/20 Major States/UTs ->90% registration
•share of Institutional deaths in total registered
deaths is 32%

16. View the Civil Registration System Report-2019
•https://censusindia.gov.in/2011-
Common/CRS_2019/CRS2019_report.pdf
(Download and glance through its pages for 10
minutes now )

18. Challenges in Registration
DemandSide
Lackofawarenesstotheneedandimportanceofregistration
Problemsinlinkingofbirthcertificatestobasicservices
Acceptabilityofalternatedocumentssuchasschoolcertificates,affidavits
Nonmedicalinstitutionalvitalevents(delays)
SupplySide
Thelowpriorityaccordedtothesystemofcivilregistrationbythe
States
Bottleneckinmonitoringtheflowofregisteredvitalevents.
Lackofcoordinationamongtheconcerneddepartments.
Lowlevelofreportingbyregistrationunits.
Completingdigitizationofthesystem

19. Challenges in Using Registration Data
ProblemsinestimatingIMR&MMRduetou nderreportingof
domiciliaryinfantdeaths&stillbirthsandmisclassificationof
maternaldeathsinbetterperformingStates.
Utilityofdatagetsdiminishedonaccountofdelayedreporting
bytheStates
Requiresmethodologicalunderstanding/knowledge

20. Global Status in Birth Registration
Source: UNSD https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/crvs/

21. Source: UNSD https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/crvs/
Global Status in Death Registration

22. Global Target for Civil Registration
UNSDGTarget16.9:By2030,providelegalidentityforall,includingbirth
registration
Registering children at birth is the first step in securing their recognition before the
law, safeguarding their rights, and ensuring that any violation of these rights does
not go unnoticed.
Children without official identification documents may be denied health care or
education. Later in life, the lack of such documentation can mean that a child may
enter into marriage or the labourmarket, or be conscripted into the armed forces,
before the legal age. In adulthood, birth certificates may be required to obtain social
assistance or a job in the formal sector, to buy or prove the right to inherit property,
to vote and to obtain a passport.

23. CRVS is increasingly being
recognized as
criticalmechanismforsupportinggoodgovernance(through
datadrivenplanningandaccountability,linkswithelectoral
rollsetc.)
atoolforfinancialmanagement(linkageswithsocial
security)anddatalinkages(throughidentitymanagement)
keyelementinsupportinghumanrights(throughthe
recognitionofidentityandassociatedrights,andthe
accountabilityofmeasuringandrecordingdeaths).

24. Reading list
•Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India Annual
Report on Vital Statistics of India based on CRS-2019.
https://censusindia.gov.in/2011-Common/CRS_2019/CRS2019_report.pdf
•Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, CRVS Training
Manual http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-
Documents/CRS_Report/CRS_mannual_Hindi_English.pdf
•Mills, Samuel, Carla Abouzahr, Jane Kim, BahieM. Rassekh, and Deborah
Sarpong. 2017. Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) for Monitoring
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Paper prepared for the
eLearning course on Civil Registration & Vital Statistics Systems
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/27533/1
15150.pdf
•United Nations . Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics
Systems: Management, Operation and Maintenance
https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/Standards-and-
Methods/files/Handbooks/crvs/crvs-mgt-E.pdf

25. Thank you