e-Governance: Applying for Birth, Death Certificate & Passports made convenient

SRINAGAR — With the high number of births and deaths in the country, it is almost impossible for India to keep a check on all of them. While this is the situation, it is no excuse for the Government to not have measures in place to solve these issues.

According to the data gathered by the Registrar General of India, about 25% of children born in India don’t have any identity, with the births of 6.6 million children going unregistered in 2007. While on the flip side when it comes to deaths, 2.8 million did not get registered.

In India, an estimated 26 million births and nine million deaths take place every year. However, the data revealed that only 11 and five Indian States boast of 100% birth and death registrations, respectively.

The Government is doing its best to rectify the situation through multiple e-Governance services. They have already worked on implementing the process of applying for a birth and death certificate online, which will allow all people across the country to get through the process with a lot less effort since they can do it in the convenience of their homes. The ideal process allows them to gather all the supporting documents needed and apply, and if they have missed something, they could find it easily.

The new process is an advantage over the past process that forced them to travel to the office and not having a document meant travelling back home, collecting a new appointment date and spending another day to get this done.

The birth certificate is one of the most important documents an individual will ever have since it is a requirement for all the processes they handle in life. From needing it to get admission in school, to using it to apply for other official documents like the Voting Card or Passport, it is a requirement when understanding an individual’s age through the process.

Similarly, the death certificate is mandatory for the friends and family of the deceased individual, to get through any of the application and documentation processes on their behalf. It comes in quite handy when they are applying for insurance claims or dealing with bank accounts that were in the name of the deceased person.

Birth and death certificates are more often than not applied for by other people on behalf of an individual. Death certificates can only be applied for post-death, the application process for the birth certificate is done by the family, usually the parents or hospital on their behalf.

According to the rules, it usually has to be done within 21 days after the incident, and further delays, depending on the circumstances, can lead to a requirement for additional information or might have a late fee.

The process of applying for these documents can sometimes need the individual to travel to the office whenever possible since the online portals have not caught on. Getting through the process can also be tedious if the family is dealing with the loss of a loved one or running around with a baby in the house. Coordinating with an agency does make it easier since they handle the process on the applicant’s behalf, including the running around.

Unlike birth and death certificates, passports are a little different since they are not a mandatory requirement within a country. They are a necessity if an individual is planning on travelling across borders. Additionally, they can use a passport when applying for other documents as well.

The passport application process has also been streamlined through the e-Governance platforms and outsourcing it through various organizations. The process requires a trip to the office since a passport needs photographs, clicked in person, as well as submitted on the application forms.

While there are a couple of middlemen who make the process easier to get through, they do have to coordinate with Government agencies to provide passports. Some agencies even assist people on the ground with the coordination since they have gone through the process multiple times.

Applying for a passport requires a lot more documents as compared to birth and death certificate, which is why they use them when coordinating other Government documentation like Voter’s ID or PAN Card.