Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday stated that the centre is planning to submit a bill to Parliament that would connect birth and death information with electoral registers and the overall development process, news agency PTI reported.
At the opening of the ‘Janganana Bhawan’, the headquarters of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Shah emphasized that the census has the potential to lay the foundation for future development plans.
According to him, the availability of precise and comprehensive census data in digital form will yield numerous advantages. He further stated that targeting the least privileged sections of society for development can be achieved by utilizing the census information for planning purposes.
Shah suggested that appropriate preservation of birth and death certificate data can aid in the effective planning of development activities.
“A bill to link death and birth register with electoral rolls will be introduced in parliament. Under this process, when a person turns 18, his or her name will be automatically included in the electoral rolls. Similarly, when a person dies, that information automatically will go to the Election Commission, which will start the process of deleting the name from the voters’ list,” he was quoted by PTI in its report.
Government officials have stated that amending the Registration of Birth and Death Act 1969 will not only simplify the process of obtaining a driver’s license and passport, but will also enable individuals to receive various benefits from government welfare programs. In addition, it will provide other advantages as well.
“If the data of birth and death certificate is preserved in a special way, then by estimating the time between the census, planning of development works can be done properly,” he said.
According to him, the developmental process was previously carried out in pieces due to the unavailability of sufficient data.Shah mentioned that a plan was implemented to provide electricity to all villages, ensure housing for all, provide access to clean drinking water, offer healthcare to all and equip every household with toilets, following 70 years of independence.
“It took so long because no one had the idea as to how much money will be required to fulfil these basic necessities, because the utility of the census was not conceived, the data related to the census were not accurate, the available data was not accessible online and coordination with census and planning authorities were absent,” he said.
“I have been involved in the development process for the last 28 years and have seen that the development in our country has been demand-based. Public representatives who had sway could extract more benefits of development for his or her constituency. This is one of the reasons why our development has been fragmented and more expensive due to duplicacy,” he said.
