Junior Minister Nityanand Rai introduced the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023 on behalf of home minister Amit Shah, in Lok Sabha on Wednesay. The Bill seeks to maintain a national and state-level database of registered births and deaths and ordains the birth certificate as an 'all purpose document.' As per the Junior Minister, the Bill intends to aid an efficient and transparent delivery of public services and social benefits.
The record will serve as a standard database for the curation and development of other variegated databases. Like for the preparation and updation of databases linked to the NPR, electoral rolls, Aadhar, ration card, passport and other national databases to be notified later. The Birth Certificate will also be effectuated as a sole document for purposes like admissions, issuance of Aadhar, driver's license, passport, preparation of voter's list, marriage registration and other government arrangements to be laid down by the Central Government.
The document will be deemed valid for anyone born on or after the date of commencement of the Registration Of Births and Deaths(Ammendment). The Bill was opposed by Congress leader Manish Tewari, who labelled it as an encroachment on privacy.
