National Commission on Population

REPORT OF WG ON --- REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES

REPORT OF WG ON --- PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION IN

REPORT OF WG ON --- RELATION TO POPULATION STABILIZATION, MONITORING

Foreword

Shri K. C. Pant, Vice Chairman, NCP & Dy Chairman, Planning Commission

"I feel that for India the present demographic transition is both a challenge and an opportunity. In the next two decades, the size of India's population will be determined mainly by adolescents and young adults, who will be hopefully more literate, aware and able to make better use of opportunities that arise. If their felt needs for health and contraceptive care are met, there will be a steeper decline in mortality and fertility, helping the country to achieve replacement level of fertility earlier. This is an opportunity to utilize the abundant available human resources of the country to accelerate economic development, take advantage of this period of low dependency ratios to improve the quality of life and improve savings. The challenge is to develop synergy between ongoing demographic, educational, economic and technological transitions so that India can hasten population stabilization, and rapidly achieve sustainable development - social, economic and human."

From the sixth JRD Tata Memorial Oration by Shri K. C. Pant on 3rd November, 2000.

Foreword

On the basis of the decision taken at the first conference of the National Commission of Population (NCP) held on 22nd July, 2000 and the deliberations of the Strategic Support Group of Secretaries to the Government of India, the NCP constituted some Working Groups for detailed examination of various issues relating to population stabilization. Many experts, academicians, representatives of NGOs and Senior Government Officers participated in the meetings of these Working Groups.In this volume NCP is publishing the reports of the Working Groups on Birth, Death & Marriages, Primary & Secondary Education, and Monitoring.

1. Working Group on Birth, Death & Marriages

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is more than a decade old, but even today more than a third of all children are denied the right to an identity. Article 7 of the UN convention on the Rights of the Child states: "The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents." Every year about 40 million children are born without being registered. Six out of ten unregistered new-borns are in South and South-east Asia.

During the 1990s, there was growing awareness of the importance of prompt birth registration. The lack of a birth certificate may prevent a child from receiving health care, nutritional supplements and social assistance, and from being enrolled in school. Later in childhood, identity documents help protect children against early marriage, child labour, premature enlistment in the armed forces or, if accused of a crime, prosecution as an adult.

Some countries have achieved universal registration and others report having made significant progress in increasing birth registration during the decade. Decentralization, mobilization, campaigns with active participation of civil society, elimination of registration fees, removal of legal or administrative obstacles, such as the requirement that the child's parents present their identity papers, and registration of children in health facilities where they are born are among the measures that have proved effective in increasing registration rates.

Over 50 million births not registered

Although many countries do not know the coverage of their vital registration system, nearly one-quarter of developing countries without previous data can now report birth registration coverage with the use of Multiple Indicators Surveys (MICS) carried out in the last two years. Nevertheless, at the end of the decade over two fifths of the world's births, 132 million annually, went unregistered. Rates are highest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where 71% and 63% of all births go unregistered

The registration of births & death in India has been made compulsory under the Registration of Births & Deaths (RBD) Act, 1969. At national level only about 55 per cent of the births are being covered by the registration machinery with large interstate variations. The level of birth registration is high in most of the UTs and the states like Kerala, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka Punjab, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, while its very low in the states like Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Prasdesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Death Registration

A death certificate is a permanent record of facts about the deceased. It provides important information about the individual such as age, sex, race, date of death, his or her parents, name of spouse if married, information about circumstances and cause of death, and the date and place of interment. This data is used in the application for insurance benefits, settlement of pension claims, transfer of title for real and personal property, and other general legal uses. The certificate is also used as evidence when a question about a death arises. Statistical information from these certificates helps define problems and the data obtained is a necessary foundation on which to base effective public health programs.

In India at national level only about 46 per cent of the deaths are being covered by the registration machinery with large interstate variations as is the case of registration of births.

Marriage Registration

Marriage registration in India is not yet compulsory. There is no Central Act f or compulsory marriage registration. The goals set by the National Population Policy include registration of all the marriages. This calls for an appropriate strategy backed by a suitable legal framework and effective IEC campaigns. Compulsory registration of marriages can greatly help empowerment of women in the country.

There is no doubt that we have to go a long way to achieve the NPP goal of complete registration of births, deaths and marriages. The reliability of estimates of demographic parameters can go up greatly if the birth and death registration system improve. The recommendations of the Working Group should be implemented especially in the States where the percentage of registration is poor.

2. Working Group on Primary and Secondary Education

Achieving universal basic education can represent very different challenges for different countries, depending on the human and financial resources that can be mobilized as well as the rate of population growth and the age structure of the population: the resources necessary to achieve universal basic education may be substantial in a situation where the population is very young and where this young population is growing rapidly - as is the case in many African countries. In most of the developing countries, fertility and mortality rates have declined steadily over the past twenty or thirty years. These declines reflect a degree of success of national and international population programmes. Often, efforts to expand basic educational provision are required precisely in those countries that have the least resources to meet the challenges, considering that it is not enough just to create more study places but also to ensure the quality of education provided. Literacy rates in India have improved over the years according to the estimates provided by successive Censuses. Table 1 depicts the rise in the literacy rates. Estimates from the recent Census 2001 indicate a significant rise in the literacy level. However large gaps in the male female literacy rate still exits and every effort must be made to decrease this gap.

Table 1: Literacy Rate (1951 -- 2001)

Year	Literacy Rate (%)
Year	Persons	Males	Females
1951	18.33	27.16	8.86
1961	28.31	40.40	15.34
1971	34.45	45.95	21.97
1981	43.56	56.37	29.75
1991	52.21	64.13	39.29
2001	65.49	75.96	54.28

Note: Literacy Rates of 1951, 1961 and 1971 relate to population aged five years and above. The rates for the years 1981 and 1991, 2001 relate to the population aged seven years and above.

There are several arguments in the demographic literature, which explains the mechanism through which education has its impact on the other variables such as age at marriage, contraceptive behavior, fertility and mortality. Higher levels of literacy and education lead to a greater awareness and also contributes to improvement in economic conditions. Education acts as a catalyst for social upliftment enhancing the returns on investment made in almost every aspect of developmental efforts.

Broad-based efforts made during the last fifty years have resulted in a massive expansion of the education system in the country, raising the overall status of educational provisions in terms of accessibility and participation. A closer analysis of basic statistics reveals glaring disparities in the progress made. Certain sections of population and certain geographical pockets in the country have failed to fully benefit from the investments made in education. Keeping this in view, the approach during the years to come will be to specifically deal with the question of equity with focus on the educational needs of the following categories:

• Women and girls

• Scheduled castes and scheduled tribe groups

• Working children

• Children with disabilities

• Children from minority groups

• Urban disadvantaged children

• Educationally backward pockets in different states

It is also recognized that quality improvement has a significant impact not only on enrollment and retention of children in the school but also on the possibilities of further education for increased productivity and exercise of citizenship rights and responsibilities. In spite of several large-scale initiatives, quality of functioning of schools has remained far from satisfactory. Studies on the subject have highlighted the need for a more direct action to be initiated at the school level in a need-based manner.

NGOs can work as partners in the process of moving towards the goal of education for all. However, it is recognized that the NGOs have tremendous creative potential to contribute in innovating and implementing education programmes. Efforts should be made to identify technically competent NGOs and enable them to assume a larger role by functioning alongside government agencies to enable the neo-literates to retain, improve and apply the newly acquired literacy skills for improvement of the quality of life. The emphasis should be on consolidation and sustaining of the adult education processes through increased participation of NGOs, panchayati raj institutions, youth organizations, teachers and student volunteers.

National Campaign for Education for All: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

The last decade has witnessed a number of new initiatives to improve the access to and participation of children in elementary education as well as for improving the quality of education provided in the primary schools. The proposed Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will be implemented by Government of India in partnership with the state governments with a long term perspective on cost sharing and through district level decentralized management framework involving local bodies. It is envisaged that the Campaign, to be launched in a mission mode, will move towards achieving the following four goals:

•	providing access to all children in the age group 6-14 years through formal primary schools or through other equivalent alternative delivery means by 2003;
•	completion of five years of primary education by all children by 2007;
•	completion of eight years of elementary education by all children by 2010; and
•	provision of elementary education of satisfactory quality for all by 2010.

The programme will be implemented in a manner that will provide adequate opportunities for NGOs and private sectors to contribute towards the achievement of these goals and lead towards a community owned initiative for universalizing elementary education. Keeping in view past experiences, efforts under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will be underscored by effective decentralization, sustainable financing, cost effective strategies for universalization, interesting curriculum, community owned planning and implementation and focus on girls, marginalised caste groups and ethnic minorities.

3. Task Force on Monitoring

The National Commission on Population (NCP) has to review monitor and give directions for the implementation of the National Population policy 2000. In relation to population stabilization, the task of monitoring and evaluation should take into account certain relevant social, economic and demographic indicator in order to be able to know whether the policies and programs are being implemented successfully for achieving the objectives. The Task Force on Monitoring constituted by the NCP was chaired by the commission's Vice Chairman, Shri. K. C. Pant and included senior officers from the concerned departments and other experts. The Task Force has identified the following key social, economic and demographic indicators for momtoring purposes:-

1.	Total Fertility Rate
2.	Sex ratio
3.	Percentage of couples using family planning methods
4.	Child mortality upto the age of 2
5.	Maternal Mortality Rate
6.	Percentage of Women receiving skilled attention during deliveries
7.	Percentage of children (12-24 months) getting complete immunization
8.	Nutritional status of children below 6 years
9.	Percentage of girls marrying below 18 years of age
10.	Percentage of births, deaths and marriages registered
11.	Literacy rate-males and females
12.	Enrolment of children in schools upto the age of 14 and the rate of dropouts
13.	Percentage of households with safe drinking water
14.	Percentage of villages connected by pucca roads

The program of action for addressing the unmet needs for contraception, health care infrastructure, health personnel and provision of other essential services for improving a quality of life of the people requires to be targeted more in the demographically weak areas. Keeping this aspect in view the NCP has already brought out a publication ranking all the districts of the country on the basis of the above indicators. The intension is to collect, analyse and publish information and data relating to demographic parameters and relevant indicators, as part of the monitoring and evaluation activities of the Commission, on a regular basis.

I would like to thank the Chairmen and the Conveners of all the three Working Groups, along with the distinguished Members of the Group for their efforts in finalizing the reports. We hope the reports and recommendations of these Working Groups would be of interest to policy makers, administrators, academicians and all those who are concerned with subject matter dealt within them.

( Krishna Singh )
Member Secretary, NCP

Contents of the Report

Part I -- REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES

>•>> Terms of Reference
>•>> Composition
>•>> Introduction
>•>> Current Status of Birth and Death Registration
>•>> Statement 1: Agencies for Registration of Births & Deaths in States/UTs
>•>> Registrars in Urban Areas
>•>> Statement 2: Status of Implimentation of the Revamped System
>•>> Statement 3: Level of Birth Registration during 1990-1999
>•>> Statement 4: Level of Death Registration during 1990-1999
>•>> Recommendations
>•>> Minutes of the First Meeting
>•>> List of Participants
>•>> Minutes of the Second Meeting
>•>> List of Participants
>•>> Action Taken on the Importent Suggestions Made in the First Meeting
>•>> Draft Recommendations


Sh. J. K. Banthia Registrar General of India, Chairman

Sh. K. Narayanan Unni
Dy. RGI of India
Convenor

Part I -- REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES

Terms of Reference

National Commission on Population vide the order No. N-11011/25/2000-NCP dated 4.10.2000 inter-alia constituted a Working Group on Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriagges under the Chairmanship of Shri J.K. Banthia, Registrar General of India. The terms of reference and composition of the Working Group was as under:-

a) To identify gaps,

b) To examine and suggest alternative strategies, interalia recent developments and innovations with due regard to cost effectiveness and optimization of resources, with the objective of contributing to the fulfillment of the objectives of the National Population Policy,

c) To consider any other matter related with or incidental to the above terms of reference, and

d) Both legislative and implementational issues should be addressed.

Composition

1.	Shri J. K. Banthia, Chairman Registrar General of India 2-A, Mansingh Road, New Delhi.

2.	Dr. V. A. Pai Panandikar, President Centre of Policy Research Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-110021

3.	Dr. K. Srinivasan, Executive Director Population Foundation of India B-28, Qutab Institutional Area, Tara Cresent, New Delhi-110016

4.	Dr. Ashish Bose Hon. Prof. Delhi University & JNU I-1777, Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi-110019

5.	Shri K. V. Irniraya, Secretary, Department of Statistics Sardar Patel Bhavan New Delhi-110001

6.	Shri A. R. Nanda, Secretary Department of Family Welfare Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi

7.	Representative of the National Commission on Population

8.	Shri R. G. Mitra, Dy. Registrar General O/o Registrar General of India West Block, R. K. Puram, New Delhi

9.	Shri K. Narayanan Unni - Convenor, Dy. Registrar General O/o Registrar General of India West Block, R. K. Puram, New Delhi

10.	Registrar General H.P., U.P., Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu

Report of the Working Group on Registration of Births, Deaths & Marriages

Introduction

The registration of births and deaths has been made compulsory under the Registration of Births & Deaths (RBD) Act, 1969. The provisions of this Act are being implemented by the state governments under the rules framed by them. Though more than 30 years have passed since the enactment of the legislation, the level of birth and death registration is not satisfactory in certain parts of the country. At the national level only about 55% of the births and 46% of the deaths are being registered and the picture is dismal in a number of States.

The National Population Policy 2000 has recognized the need for registration of births, deaths and marriages and set the goal of achieving universal registration of these events by 2010. Considering the fact that the level of registration of events under the RBD Act is very low and there is no national legislation providing for compulsory registration of marriages, the National Population Commission appointed a Working Group on Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages with Registrar General, India as Chairman to look into various issues relating to registration of vital events.

The Working group had two meetings. The first meeting was held on December 12, 2000. During this meeting the Group reviewed the Civil Registration System in the country including procedures for registration, an assessment of the system, problems affecting the system and strategies adopted by the ORGI for its improvement. The minutes of this meeting may be seen at Annexure I. In the first meeting it was decided to co-opt a representative of the Ministry of Law to examine the various legal issues regarding marriage registration. It was also decided to invite Chief Registrars of some better performing States as well as Chief Registrars of some poor performing States to make presentations on the system prevailing in those States and various factors that have contributed to their poor performance.

During the second meeting held on 18th May 2001, the Working Group reviewed the action taken by the ORGI on the suggestions made by the members during the first meeting. The States of Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, where birth and death registration system is performing well made presentations on their states. The focus of the presentations was on the actions taken by the State Government which resulted in higher levels of registration in a continuous and sustainable manner. The states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, which are' among the poor performing states also made presentations on the system prevailing in those States and the factors affecting level of registration. In general, it was felt that the level of registration is low in the States of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh due to one or more of the following reasons.

1. Lack of awareness of the need of birth and death registration among the public and the district officials.

2. Insufficient monitoring by the Chief Registrar of Births & Deaths.

3. Non-availability of forms -a poor reflection on the failure of the State government.

4. Lack of initiative on the part of the registration machinery.

Current Status of Birth and Death Registration

Registration Machinery: The Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969, provides for the State Governments to frame rules for the establishment of the registration machinery in the State and procedures for registration. The Act provides for a Chief Registrar at the State level, District Registrars at the District level and Registrars at the Registration Centre to discharge the functions under the Act. At the Central level the Registrar General, India is to coordinate and unify the activities of the Chief Registrars and issue general directions to the State governments regarding registration. All the State Governments, except the newly created States of Uttaranchal and Jharkhand have notified the registration machinery in the States. In these two States and in Chhattisgarh (where the rules are yet to be notified), registration continues to be done under the rules framed by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, which were in force in these areas before their bifurcation. Statement 1 summarises the information on the registration machinery in various States.

Statement 1- Agencies for Registration of Births & Deaths in States/UTs


Chief Registrars

Director Health:	Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Orissa, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, A&N Islands, Chandigarh and Lakshadweep- (16 States & 3 UTs)
Director Economics & Statistics	Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh (proposed), Rajasthan, Nagaland and Delhi -(8 States & 1 UT).
Others	Kerala (Director of Panchayats), Mizoram (Chief Secretary), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (Administration), Daman & Diu (Finance Secretary) Pondicherry (Local Administration Deptt.) -(2 States & 3 UTs)

Additional/Deputy Chief Registrars

Addl./Dy. Director Health	Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal - (8 States)
Addl/Dy.Director Economics & Statistics	Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh (proposed), Manipur, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Daman & Diu -(13 States & 1 UT)
Others	Kerala (Dy. Director, Panchayats), Delhi (Municipal Health Officer)-(1 State & 1 UT)

District Registrar

District Health/ Medical Officer	Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Orissa, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, A&N Islands and Chandigarh -(13 States & 2 UTs)
District Statistical Officer	Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh (proposed), Nagaland, Delhi (Asstt. Director) -(4 States & 1 UT)
Dy. Commissioner/Collector	Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Karnataka, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, West Bengal and Daman & Diu -(8 States & 1 UT)
Others	Kerala (Asstt. Director, Panchayats) Dadra & Nagar Haveli (Mamlatdar-cum-Survey & Settlement Officer) and Pondicherry (Municipal Administration)

Registrars in Rural Areas

Panchayat Secretary (Local Self Government)	Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat (Talati-cum-Mantri), Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan (Partly), Tripura (partly), Uttar Pradesh, Daman & Diu, Delhi and Pondicherry.
Station House Officer (Police)	Chhattisgarh (Proposed), Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Chandigarh.
Village/Revenue Officer	Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
Tehsildar-Sub Divisional Officer/ Asstt. Commissioner	Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura (Partly)
Primary Health Centre Incharge/Health Inspector/ Block Sanitary Inspector	Assam, Maghalaya, Orissa, Sikkim, West Bengal, A&N Islands and Lakshadweep
Block Development Officer	Manipur
Teacher of Government School	Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan (Partly)

Registrars in Urban Areas

Health Officer/Executive Officer or the Commissioner of the Municipality/Municipal Corporation are the Registrars. In large cities the Registrar functions as a' manager of the system with the Sub- Registrar with jurisdiction in different areas of the cities doing the actual registration.

Rules and procedures: All the States had framed rules for registration as provided under the Act. The procedures of registration and compilation of data thereof involved a lot manual work on the part of the registrar. The procedures for registration were revamped to reduce their workload and to make the system more amenable to computerization and use of modern technology. Accordingly the rules were to be amended by the State Governments. It was decided to implement the revamped system from 1.1.2000. However, amended rules are yet to be notified in several States. The present Status of implementation of the revamped system is presented in Statement 2.

Statement 2: Status of implementation of the revamped system


Status	States/Union Territories

	Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, A&N Islands, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry and Maharashtra
Draft Rules approved by Central Government	Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Haryana Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab and Rajasthan
Rules under consideration of State Government	Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh.
Information not available	Tripura and Dadra & Nagar Haveli
Draft Rules under consideration of Central Government	Chhattisgarh

Level of Registration: At national level only about 55 per cent of the births and 46 per cent of the deaths are being covered by the registration machinery at present. The level of registration varies substantially across the States. The events are to be registered at the place of occurrence and not at the place of usual residence of the mother in case of birth and of the person who died in case of death. Reliable data on actual levels of birth and death rates are available from Sample Registration System (SRS) which collects these information for the usually resident population. The comparison between the birth rates and death rates worked out from the data on registered births and deaths and the corresponding rates from the SRS provides an indication of the level of registration in most of the states. In those states and union territories where large number of people come from outside its boundaries due to availability of medical facilities the birth rates and death rates are likely to be significantly higher in the civil regestration system. Statements 3 and 4 provide the levels of birth and death registration for the period 1990-99.

Statement 3 - Level of Birth Registration during 1990-1999

SN	State/ Union Territory	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12

	INDIA	47.7	48.9	50.8	51.4	51.5	55.0	-	-	-	-

1	Jammu & Kashmir	49.3	SAS data not available							97.2	NA
2	Himachal Pradesh	54.1	46.9	52.8	51.5	58.4	71.7	79.7	82.1	79.3	76.8
3	Punjab	82.6	84.9	86.9	89.0	89.6	92.4	90.1	90.8	93.1	96.7
4	Chandigarh	154.0	173.8	163.3	147.9	128.2	126.6	NA	NA	NA	NA
5	Haryana	62.8	62.4	63.8	61.4	68.5	73.4	72.7	78.1	75.2	78.5
6	Delhi	115.2	114.3	115.9	111.8	110.1	116.0	110.0	109.7	112.3	NA
7	Rajasthan	21.4	20.3	20.5	22.0	21.8	23.7	22.6	25.9	28.7	31.8
8	Uttar Pradesh	25.5	28.8	32.6	35.1	37.0	40.6	NA	NA	NA	NA
9	Bihar	20.9	20.9	21.2	21.6	17.4	18.7	NA	NA	NA	NA
10	Sikkim	10.4	16.6	22.9	23.6	22.3	24.4	37.5	55.8	67.9	68.2
11	Arunachal Pradesh	50.6	41.6	77.3	66.3	67.1	66.3	80.5	62.8	81.6	NA
12	Nagaland	84.5	86.9	87.9	88.3	94.6	SRS data not available		NA	NA	NA
13	Manipur	14.2	9.1	18.1	18.8	13.7	14.0	16.0	19.3	NA	NA
14	Mizoram	SRS data not available						115.8	128.0	112.4	NA
15	Tripura	83.0	80.1	68.3	74.6	103.3	108.9	78.4	75.2	NA	NA
16	Meghalaya	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	44.5	38.0	41.5	47.6	47.6
17	Assam#	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	28.1	24.1	29.7	NA
18	West Bengal	39.3	44.5	47.0	44.7	53.2	64.3	72.8	81.7	NA	NA
19	Orissa	64.4	65.4	70.1	67.1	49.6	58.6	65.4	65.6	NA	NA
20	Madhya Pradesh	48.2	48.1	49.9	51.0	49.7	50.8	48.9	48.4	47.6	NA
21	Gujarat	87.4	88.6	92.7	92.1	95.9	96.3	99.7	97.9	94.2	80.1
22	Daman & Diu	NA	NA	135.1	NA	NA	148.7	151.7	133.0	138.5	107.7
23	D & N Haveli	78.1	73.0	80.6	78.6	79.2	85.9	89.7	102.4	79.9	NA
24	Maharashtra	76.9	76.7	77.6	77.2	76.2	80.3	78.7	80.2	82.1	91.1
25	Andhra Pradesh	29.5	31.2	33.1	35.0	33.2	34.4	35.7	36.7	40.4	NA
26	Karnataka	63.6	64.9	68.8	72.4	75.6	86.5	93.5	93.4	98.7	NA
27	Goa	119.5	122.7	119.9	121.5	117.4	120.6	114.5	112.6	105.0	NA
28	Lakshadweep	111.3	104.9	NA	NA	NA	86.5	80.6	80.6	80.1	67.6
29	Kerala	101.6	103.2	99.2	100.7	99.2	101.7	104.8	107.9	NA	NA
30	Tamil Nadu	83.4	87.1	88.6	88.9	91.4	90.3	93.6	95.4	92.9	93.1
31	Pondicherry	208.3	209.2	216.4	205.7	200.6	199.8	NA	196.2	193.4	201.9
32	A. & N. Islands	103.9	NA	NA	120.0	118.7	128.1	100.0	96.8	98.4	101.4

Note : NA-Annual Statistical Report is not available

Statement 4- Level of death registration during 1990-1999.

SN	State/ Union Territory	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12

	INDIA	39.4	42.3	44.1	46.0	45.9	46.0	-	-	-	-

1	Jammu & Kashmir	43.7	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	72.0	NA
2	Himachal Pradesh	35.5	33.2	37.4	38.0	42.9	50.2	56.8	56.8	60.1	65.1
3	Punjab	79.6	79.6	77.7	82.8	81.3	84.3	87.4	86.4	85.0	89.4
4	Chandigarh	238.5	232.1	259.5	277.1	220.6	205.1	NA	NA	NA	NA
5	Haryana	61.6	61.0	67.6	64.7	75.5	70.6	71.7	68.2	74.2	75.2
6	Delhi	97.9	99.1	113.6	109.6	116.5	110.6	112.1	104.7	131.6	NA
7	Rajasthan	23.3	23.5	24.7	26.7	29.6	27.3	28.6	33.0	43.1	43.7
8	Uttar Pradesh	16.9	19.0	25.9	25.9	28.3	31.1	NA	NA	NA	NA
9	Bihar	27.0	28.8	29.6	29.8	24.1	25.6	NA	NA	NA	NA
10	Sikkim	4.4	4.1	7.9	9.0	9.2	8.6	14.2	17.9	33.1	34.2
11	Arunachal Pradesh	9.5	8.9	15.2	15.5	19.5	21.2	29.0	25.7	24.0	NA
12	Nagaland	69.7	66.6	60.2	49.9	52.1	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
13	Manipur	10.2	8.8	15.1	16.5	27.1	16.0	18.7	16.0	NA	NA
14	Mizoram	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	95.1	77.5	68.1	NA
15	Tripura	32.6	30.9	37.2	41.8	44.1	46.0	34.2	36.6	NA	NA
16	Meghalaya	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	52.7	35.8	39.6	42.7	43.9
17	Assam#	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	12.4	11.9	13.7	NA
18	West Bengal	23.4	24.0	24.7	23.2	24.9	27.4	30.4	33.0	NA	NA
19	Orissa	50.4	58.4	54.7	584	37.4	47.0	58.3	50.2	NA	NA
20	Madhya Pradesh	43.7	48.8	48.1	52.6	53.2	53.3	58.4	53.0	59.1	NA
21	Gujarat	57.7	60.4	64.8	62.4	70.5	69.0	69.9	65.5	60.4	52.1
22	Daman & Diu	NA	NA	67.4	NA	NA	92.2	78.2	116.9	883	102.5
23	D & N Haveli	49.2	57.7	52.7	61.4	57.6	66.1	63.5	61.4	66.4	NA
24	Maharashtra	64.8	70.9	68.9	71.7	69.4	69.1	70.5	63.9	74.5	70.6
25	Andhra Pradesh	25.1	26.9	30.0	34.4	29.9	305	34.8	34.0	40.1	NA
26	Karnataka	54.9	62.5	55.3	66.5	75.5	86.9	100.8	100.4	102.2	NA
27	Goa	96.0	101.6	102.7	110.0	112.3	111.9	93.2	83.4	85.8	NA
28	Lakshadweep	103.8	95.3	NA	NA	NA	73.0	72.9	72.0	74.7	70.2
29	Kerala	85.2	88.1	89.9	87.9	89.3	86.1	89.3	88.2	NA	NA
30	Tamil Nadu	72.3	76.1	76.6	80.8	82.0	75.5	78.1	77.9	77.5	75.1
31	Pondicherry	144.7	149.2	150.6	146.8	131.3	131.5	NA	99.2	102.2	108.0
32	A. & N. Islands	59.2	NA	NA	78.5	71.4	88.7	67.7	61.2	68.4	52.6

Note : NA-Annual Statistical Report is not available

Some of the States such as Goa, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Punjab and Tamil Nadu and all the Union Territories except Dadra and Nagar Haveli have achieved above 90% registration of births while some of the States such as Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Rajasthan and Uttar pradesh are able to register less than 50% of the births only. In the rest of the States, levels of birth registration is in the range of 50-90 percent.

Goa and Pondicherry are the only where more than 90% of the deaths are being registered. However, during 1997 and 1998 death registration in Goa declined below 90%. Of late Karnataka has also shown above 90% levels of death registration. The States of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have not yet reached the halfway mark in death registration. Levels of death registration in rest of the States are in the range of 50-90 per cent with only Kerala and Punjab among the major states having above 80% of the deaths registered.

During the discussions, it was revealed that the infrastructure available to the registrars in some of the States are totally inadequate. Sufficient number of forms and other stationery are not available at the registration centres. The Group felt that some of the States are not paying enough attention to the fact that the State Governments are legally bound to ensure registration of all vital events. The registration machinery in the States are not fully functional. Adequate financial resources have to be provided for printing of forms and other stationery required for the system to function. It is felt by the Group that both the Central and State Governments should prepare necessary plan schemes to provide for infrastructure to the present machinery as well as the publicity and related activities. Since the preparation of the Tenth Plan is in progress, it is felt that timely action may be taken by all the States in this regard.

Registration of Marriages:

There is no Central Act, which provides for compulsory registration of marriages. During the second meeting of the Working Group held on 18th April 2001, the Working Group deliberated upon various issues relating to registration of marriages, specifically (i) whether marriage registration should be made compulsory at all, (ii) whether a Central Act is necessary or a State Act is sufficient and (iii) which Agency can be entrusted this task. The Group members were in agreement that without a legal provision providing for compulsory registration of marriages it may not be possible to achieve the goal of complete registration of marriages. It was felt that a Central Act can be effective in the current situation. General consensus of the members was that the Registrar General, India, who is dealing with registration of births and deaths should also deal with registration of marriages. The Group also felt that registration of marriages will lead to empowerment of women and the whole issue should be addressed from the point of view of empowerment of women rather than legal/statistical necessities. The minutes of the second meeting may be seen in Annexure II.

Recommendations

Having considered all the aspects relating to the registration of births, deaths and marriages in the country the Working Group makes the following recommendations:

Registration of births and deaths is compulsory in the country under the RBD Act 1969. As a signatory to the U. N. Convention 1989 on the 'Rights of the Child', the country has a responsibility to ensure registration of all births as registration of birth is the first right of the child. The National Population Policy also has set the goal of achieving 100 per cent registration of births, deaths and marriages by 2010. To achieve these goals and to ensure that the legal requirements are complied with, the Central and State Governments have to take necessary steps to ensure that the registration machinery in the States are provided adequate support and guidance. Appropriate Plan schemes may be prepared by Centre and State Governments for providing adequate support for ensuring universal registration of births and deaths.

The level of vital events' registration is very low in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Assam. Unless there is considerable improvement in the coverage in birth and death registration in these large and demographically important States, it will not be possible for the country as a whole to make any progress towards the goal of universal registration of births and deaths. The Governments of these States should take steps to vitalize the registration system with active involvement at the level of the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary.

The current trends in the country for management, funding and implementation of health and education programmes is towards decentralization to the Panchayats. In this context, the National Population Policy aims at the convergence of service delivery at village level, including that of registration of births and deaths and marriages. In view of this the Village Panchayats should be made responsible in due course for the registration activities in all the States.

Registration of births and deaths is a statutory activity. In order to ensure that this statutory obligation is fulfilled, the State Governments should allocate sufficient funds for working of the system including printing of forms, maintenance of the office of the registrar, publicity, and training. It is seen that non-availability of forms is affecting registration work in some large states. Central funds should be routed through the office of the RGI to undertake immediate steps to make available sufficient number of forms as an interim arrangement.

The institution of District Collectors is uniform throughout the country and in a position to effectively monitor the registration activities of both the rural and urban areas. All States should take necessary steps to involve District Collectors in superintending and monitoring the work of Births & Deaths Registration by including it as one of the items in their job chart.

6.	All States should make production of Birth/Death Certificates compulsory in various schemes/programmes and regular administrative procedures where proof of date of birth/death is required.

Both, Central and State Governments should provide sufficient budgetary provision for enhancing public awareness through publicity measures for making birth and death registration system more user friendly. Most of the social sector programmes have a component of publicity. The Committee felt that action should be taken for convergence of such sectoral publicity measures by providing for message of one programme in the publicity material prepared for another programme. The message for birth and death registration can be included in the publicity material for several of the other related programme without any additional expenditure.

Lack of awareness to discharge responsibilities as a Registrar/Sub- Registrar of Births and Deaths many a times does not allow the system to function. A large number of officials are involved as the registrar and sub-registrar. These officials discharge their duties of registration of births and deaths on a part-time basis in addition to their regular duties. There are frequent changes of personnel. It is necessary that regular training programmes are conducted for all those involved in the registration activities. All training programmes for the administrative and technical staff at all levels directly or indirectly involved in registration should include a module on Civil Registration. Office of the RGI may provide necessary training modules/manuals to various training institutes for this purpose. Central budgetary support should be provided every year for undertaking training activities at State and district levels.

9.	It was noticed that a number of posts at the State and district level are lying vacant in some of the States which is affecting registration activities. All the Governments should take necessary steps to fill up the sanctioned posts so that the registration work is done smoothly.

10.

As part of discharging overall civic responsibilities throughout the country the new generation needs to be sensitized at an early age regarding registration of births and deaths. This could be done by including specific chapter(s) in the curriculum. NCERT/SCERTs may prepare appropriate material for inclusion in the school syllabus.

11.	Information Technology should be effectively deployed to improve registration, compilation of data and issue of certificates.

12.

The goals set by the National Population Policy include registration of all marriages. Though marriage registration is provided for under various laws, they are voluntary in nature. It is felt that without an appropriate legal backing, it will not be possible to achieve registration of all marriages. It is felt that the registration of marriages should be considered as a positive and progressive step towards empowerment of women. It is recommended that a Central law be enacted to provide for compulsory registration of marriages.

Annexure I

Minutes of the First Meeting of the Working Group on Registration of Births, deaths and Marriages

The first meeting of the Working Group on Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages constituted under the National Commission on Population was held on 12.12.2000 under the Chairmanship of the Registrar General, India at the Planning Commission, New Delhi.

The RGI while welcoming the members of the Working Group briefed them about the registration organisation and also the current status of registration in different States. He stressed the importance of data based on Civil Registration System and informed that the States that have already reached cent percent registration, especially in respect of births, been requested to start using the data. The RGI pointed out that the lack of monitoring, inspection and accountability of state functionaries, lack of exclusive funds for civil registration in most of the States/UTs, lack of awareness among the general public about the need and importance of registration, general public apathy towards the registration and use of alternative documents as proof of date of births and deaths were some of the basic problems that are being encountered in registration of births and deaths in the country. Due to non-availability of funds, most of the non-performing States were finding it difficult to supply registration forms, which has led to total breakdown of the system there. In some States, statistical reports are also not submitted from the registration centers in time. The RGI pointed out that although both the birth rate and death rate continue to decline, the total number of events in the country that would have to be registered is not likely to come down in near future. Therefore, there is an urgent need for strengthening the registration system in the States/UTs not only to achieve cent percent registration now but also to cope with the increasing pressure of registration in the future.

Shri R.G. Mitra, DRG (CRS) who was the then Convener of the Working Group gave a brief overview of the Civil Registration System in India, which included, the legal frame of the system, registration organization in States/UTs, procedure of registration, assessment of the system, problems affecting the system and finally strategies adopted by ORGI for improvement. Thereafter, the members discussed various issues relating to the registration of births and deaths and made several suggestions for improvement of the system.

The following points emerged during the course of the discussion on the strengthening of the registration of births and deaths in the country and introduction of compulsory registration of marriages :-

A complete Civil Registration System has the potential to generate vital statistical data at all geographical and administrative levels on continuous basis, which is essentially required for planning at district and lower levels. Therefore, there is an urgent need to strengthen the system in order to achieve cent percent registration, which will finally lead to a continuous and permanent data base on vital statistics.

ii)

The existing organizational set up for Civil Registration in the States/UTs may be reviewed particularly of the non-performing States and if necessary changes be suggested. It would be important in this context to study the registration organisations in States that have achieved cent percent registration. The involvement of Village Panchayats especially at the lowest levels should also be examined in the states which are not doing well. However, it would not be advisable to suggest any changes in the organizational structure in States which are already doing well.

iii)	The District Collector is the key official in the district administration and should be necessarily involved and made responsible in superintending and monitoring of work of registration in the districts.

iv)

One of the major bottlenecks in most of the poor performing States is the non-availability of funds for printing of forms and certificates, training and publicity. Exclusive budgetary provision under the plan scheme does not exist in most of the States for Civil Registration System. The States UTs should be advised to prepare plan schemes exclusively for Civil Registration System to meet the basic requirement of running the system.

v)	It was suggested that in order to net the missing events, declaration of an amnesty period for registration of births of children upto age 5 years may be examined in light of the existing legal provisions. This should be preceded by intensive publicity campaign.

vi)

One of the strategies recommended by the Office of the RGI in improving the registration levels is to establish link between the informant and the Registrar so that the registration is done without even the informant coming to the registration center. Under this procedure the "Notifiers" have to obtain information on births or deaths from the informant in prescribed format and submit the same to the Registrar for registration. This has worked well in some of the States and a few other have ahead issued necessary orders/notifications for introduction of such a system. The Health Workers/ANMs have been drafted for such work in many of the States. However, one of the major problems appear to be that these workers are required to fill up a large number of forms for Family Welfare and RCH programmes in addition to collecting information through CRS form. There are a few items of information that are collected in the FW/RCH programme and CRS thus leading to unnecessary duplication of work. The Family Welfare Department and the Office of the RGI together may review the data items that are being collected through the various forms in their respective scheme/programme and rationalize them in order to avoid unnecessary duplication.

vii)

One of the reasons cited for poor registration is clear lack of demand for birth and death certificates especially in rural areas. Even today alternative documents can be used for proving date of birth or death thus resulting in lesser demand for birth and death certificates. There is a need to continuously press the states to issue notifications necessitating production of birth or death certificates in various schemes and programmes, wherever date of births or deaths need to be proved.

viii)

Possibility of linking the immunization programme with the registration of births of children may be explored in order to improve registration of births.

ix)

Although the publicity campaign on registration of births and deaths have been intensified in the recent years, there is a need to manifold enhance and also sustain the publicity campaign throughout the country in order to educate the public and create awareness among them about the need and importance of registration. Therefore, the Government both at the Centre and in the State have to be approached to make sufficient provision in the budget for this purpose.

With the fast progressing scene in the field of information technology, there is an urgent need to explore the possibility of computerising the entire CRS system and within the conceivable date in future, connect the entire system through network for online registration of births and deaths and issuance of certificates. This will also improve and strengthen the data base on vital statistics and population.

xi)

It was decided to co-opt an official of suitable level from the Ministry of Law in order to appropriately examine the various issues regarding the registration of births and deaths and marriages from the legal angle. It was decided to invite the Chief Registrars of some better performing states such as Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and also from the poor performing states such as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to make presentation on the Civil Registration System that exist in the states and the various factors that contributed for complete registration in the former states and the fectors affecting the registration in the latter.

xii)

The registration of marriages was also discussed in the meeting by the Working Group. Presently, the country dose not have any uniform law for registration of marriages. The working Group felt that there is an urgent need for recording of the marriages in the country. The National Population Policy adopted by the Government of India does spell out the importance of registration of marriages and has also set up a target of its complete registration by the year 2010. It would be, therefore, important to initiate action for achieving the target. It was also advised that the forum of the meeting of the Minority Commission, when held, should also be utilised to elicit their view on registration of marriages. If necessery, religious leaders, especially from minority communities may also be invited in the meeting of this Working Group to exclusively discuss on issues related to registration of marriages.

It was informed by Ms. Krishna Singh, the Member Secretary of the National Commission on Population that the recommendations made by various Working Groups set up under the National Population Commission including the one on Registration of Births and Deaths and Marriages will finally be considered by the Main Commission so as to put in place an historic and integreated approach towards tackling the various problems related to the population of the country. This will be done under the board parameters laid down in the National Population Policy document.

At the end the Chairman thanked all the participants for their valuable suggestions and hoped to convene the next meeting as early as possible.

List of Participants

1.	Shri J.K. Banthia	Registrar General, India	Chairman

2.	Smt. Krishna Singh	Member Secrertary, NCP, Planning Commission	Member

3.	Dr (Smt.) P. Rarmchandran	Advisor (Health), Planning Commission	Member

4.	Dr. K.Srinivasan	President, IASP	Member

5.	Shri V. Asokan	Director, NCP	Representative of NCP

6.	Dr. K. V .Rao	Director Dept.of Health & Family Welfare	Representative of Health Secretary.

7.	Shri S.M. Vijayaraghavachar	Chief Registrar of Births & Deaths, Karnataka	Co-opted Member

8.	Shri Rajesh Bhatia	Assistant Director	Representative of Dept. of Statistics

9.	Sh. R.G. Mitra	Dy. Registrar General Convener ORGI	Convener

Annexure II

Minutes of the Second Meeting of the Working Group on Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages

	The Second Meeting of the Working Group on Registration of Births, Deaths & Marriages was held on 18.4.2001 at 2.30 PM in Room No.344, Yojana Bhawan, New Delhi. Registrar General, India chaired the meeting. Apart from the members of the working group, Chief Registrar of Births & Deaths/their representatives of the States of Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh also attended the meeting as special invitees.

	During the first meeting of the Committee, the members made several suggestions to improve the level of registration of births and deaths. The action taken by the Registrar General, India on these suggestions were presented. On most of the points action was already underway and will continue as an ongoing process. The summary of the action taken on the important suggestions is given in Annexure - III.

	It was decided during the first meeting that two States which are performing well and two states where the performance is very low in civil registration are to be invited to give a presentation to the members of the committee on the status of registration in the States and the suggestions for improvement. The States of Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, who were invited, made presentations.

	In Tamil Nadu, the level of registration have been above 90% for several years and reporting efficiency is about 92%. The level of birth registration has been improving over the years and has reached about 93.8% in 1999. In case of death registration also there is an improvement and the level of registration had reached about 78% in 1998, though it has shown a decline at 73.6% in 1999. The reasons for the decline are yet to be ascertained as the data for 1999 are provisional. The Chief Registrar of Tamil Nadu was of the opinion that waival of late fee/penal provision for infant death may help in increasing registration of infant deaths. The registration of all burial grounds at least in urban areas may help in improvement of the death registration as a whole. Additional funding for IEC activities and sensitization of medical professionals on registration of births & deaths and certification of cause of death was also suggested by the Chief Registrar.

	In Himachal Pradesh, the concentrated action taken by way of publicity and effective continuous monitoring was very helpful in increasing levels of birth and death registration. It was pointed out that the personal interest taken by the concerned Minister has helped a lot in achieving the current levels of registration. A family health card has been introduced in the State which provides information about all the family members which is to be updated periodically and this help in identifying the events taking place in the area for registration.

	In Rajasthan, lack of awareness on need for registration is one of the main causes for low levels of birth and death registration. Office of the Chief Registrar is of the opinion that wider publicity can help to a large extent in achieving better levels of registration. The Deputy Chief Registrar pointed out that the District Co1lector of Jalore had done excellent work in implementing the RBD Act by proper monitoring etc. It was felt that the success of such initiatives in certain areas is an indication that the system can actually be revitalized with the existing machinery itself.

	In Uttar Pradesh, the forms required for birth and death registration were not printed by the State government for the last 3-4 years. The representative of the Chief Registrar pointed out that even the bills of printing for earlier years are yet to be settled. There is a complete lack of initiative at the field level in most of the districts. The Chairman pointed out that the District Collector of Pilibhit has taken some initiative to get the births and deaths in his area registered under the Act and for this purpose, he has asked the field staff dealing with health programmes to collect the information on all the births and deaths in their area.

	It was decided that a note be prepared regarding the levels of registration in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and the reasons for low levels of registration for submission to the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission for his information.

	The issue of marriage registration was discussed. Some of the issues that were discussed are (i) whether marriage registration should be made compulsory (ii) whether a Central Act or state Act to be advocated for this purpose and (iii) which agency should be entrusted with this task. There was a general consensus that without a legal provision for compulsory registration of the marriages, it may not be possible to achieve the goal of registration of all marriages by 2010 set in the National Population Policy. The representative of the Law Ministry was of the opinion that only a Central Act can be effective in the current situation. The general consensus of the members was that the ORGI which is dealing with birth and death registration should also deal with marriages registration and that the agency entrusted with birth and death registration in the field should handle the work of marriage registration. It was also pointed out that since the registration of marriage will lead to empowerment of women the whole issue should be addressed from the point of view of empowerment of women rather than other legal/statistical necessities only.

	A draft of the recommendations of the working group was circulated to the members during the meeting. Some preliminary discussions on the draft took place during the meeting and the members were requested to give their comments within a week. This draft has been slightly modified on the basis of the discussions which took place in the meeting and is given in Annexure - IV.

	The meeting ended with the vote of thanks to Smt. Krishna Singh, Member Secretary, National Population Commission who could spare some time to attend the meeting and the Chair.

List of Participants

Name	Organization

1. Shri J.K. Banthia	Registrar General, India

2. Dr. K.V. Rao	Chief Dir. M/o Health & Family Welfare

3. Prof. Ashish Bose	Institute of Economic Growth

4. Shri B.S. Meena	Ministry of Law, Justice & Company Affairs

5. Shri C.S. Mishra	National Commission on Population

7. Dr. N.N. Bhatnagar	Representative of Chief Registrar, Uttar Pradesh

8. Shri K.K. Lamba	Planning Commission

9. Shri Kewal Suniara	Representative of Chief Registrar, Himachal Pradesh

10. Shri Bhagwan Singh Jat	Representative of Chief Registrar, Rajasthan

11. Shri R.G. Mitra	Office of the Registrar General, India

12. Shri K. Narayanan Unni	Office of the Registrar General, India

13. Shri Nand Lal	Office of the Registrar General, India

14. Ms. Vimmi Sachdeva	Office of the Registrar General, India

Action taken on the important suggestions made in the first meeting of the Working Group on Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages

Suggestion	Action Taken

1. The existing organizational setup for civil registration may be reviwed particularly in non-performing States and if necessary changes may be suggested	The registration system in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have been reviewed with the Chief Registrars of States. These States are under regular review so that the system can be improved.

	The Chief Secretaries of the new States of Uttarnchal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have been requested to notify the Chief Registrar of Births & Deaths so that the registration machinery in these states will also be put in place soon.

2. The District Collectors to be involved and made responsible in superintending and monitoring the work of registration.	The states governments have been requested to constitute district level Inter Departmental Coordination Committees which are to meet and review the progress of registration in the district on a regular basis. Those States, where the committees have been formed but have been dormant, have been requested to activate the committees.

3. Preparation of Plan Schemes exclusively for civil registration system by the States/UTs.	As the preparation of Plan Schemes for the Annual Plan 2001-2002 is already over it is proposed to address the State governments when they start preparing the schemes for the next financial year. It is also proposed to write to States to prepare scheme for inclusion in the 10th Five Year Plan.

4. Declaration of an amnesty period for registration of births of children upto five years to be examined the light of legal provision of the act.	The Law Ministry has given an opinion that several difficulties are likely to arise on two counts:

	1. The events which have been delayed beyond one year can be registered only on an order made by Magistrate of the 1st Class or a Presidency Magistrate.

	2. As per the provisions of the Law some compounding field will have to be taken from the concerned persons even though it may only be a nominal fee.

	3. Law Ministry have also expressed the view that care need to be taken during such campaigns to ensure that the benefit of delayed registration is not misused by way of according incorrect dates of birth.

5. The Department of Family Welfare and the Office of the RGI to review the data items being collected through various forms under the respective schemes/programmes and rationalize them.	Action yet to be taken

6. Possibility of bringing the Immunization Programme with registration of birth of children may be explored.	The matter will be taken up with the Chief Registrars of Births & Deaths in the next meeting of the Chief Registrars proposed to be held in May 2001.

7. Governments both Centre and Sates have to be approached to make sufficient provisions in the budget for publicity.	Since the exercise for the budget of 2001-2002 is already over, the matter will be taken up at the appropriate time for the budget for next year.

8. Networking the registration centres for online registration of births	This will be taken up with the States in a phased manner and deaths and issuance of depending on the level of certificates development of IT in the States.

	The Government of Kerala has initiated a scheme to network all the Panchayats and Municipalities which also help the networking of all the registration centres in the State. The other States will also be requested to explore the possibility of networking their registration centres.

9. Co-opt an official of the Ministry of Law to the Working Group.	Shri B.S. Meena, Additional Legal Advisor has been nominated to Working Group by the Ministry of Law.

Annexure IV

Draft Recommendations of the Working Group on Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages

1) As a signatory to the U. N. Convention 1989 on the 'Rights of the Child', the country has a responsibility to ensure registration of all births as registration of birth is the first right of the child. The National Population Policy also has set the goal of achieving 100 per cent registration of births, deaths and marriages by 2010. To achieve these goals the Central and State Governments have to take necessary steps to ensure that the registration machinery in the States are provided adequate support and guidance.

2) The level of vital events registration is very low in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Assam. Unless there is considerable improvement in the coverage in birth and death registration in these large and demographically important States, it will not be possible for the country as a whole to make any progress towards the goal of universal registration of births and deaths. The Governments of these States should take steps to vitalize the registration system with active involvement at the level of Chief Minister and Chief Secretary.

3) The current trends in the country for management, funding and implementation of health and education programmes is toward decentralization to the Panchayats. In this context, the National Population Policy aims at the convergence of service delivery at village level, including that of registration of births and deaths and marriages. In view of this the Village Panchayats should be actively involved in the registration activities in all States.

4) Registration of births and deaths Is a statutory activity. In order to ensure that this statutory obligation is fulfilled, the State Governments should allocate sufficient funds for working of the system including printing of forms, maintenance of the office of the registrar, publicity, and training. It is seen that non-availability of forms is affecting registration work in some states. Central funds should be routed through the office of the RGI to undertake immediate steps to make available sufficient number of forms as an interim arrangement.

5) The institution of District Collectors is uniform in all parts of the country and is in a position to effectively monitor the registration activities of both rural and urban areas. All states should take necessary steps to involve District Collectors in superintending and monitoring the work of Births & Deaths Registration by including it as one of the items in their job chart.

6) All states should make production of Birth/Death Certificates compulsory in various schemes/programmes and regular administrative procedures where proof of date of birth/death is required.

7) Both, Central and State Governments should provide sufficient budgetary provision for enhancing public awareness through publicity measures for making birth and death registration system more user friendly. Most of these social sector programmes have a component of publicity. The Committee felt that action should be taken for convergence of such sectors publicity measures by providing for message of one programme in the publicity material prepared for another programme. The message for birth and death registration can be included in the publicity material for several of the other related programme without any additional expenditure.

8) Lack of awareness to discharge responsibilities as a Registrar/ Sub- Registrar of Births and Deaths many a times does not allow the system to function. A large number of officials are involved as the registrar and sub- registrar. These officials discharge their duties of registration of births and deaths on a part-time basis in addition to their regular duties. There are frequent changes of personnel. It is necessary that regular training programmes are conducted for all those involved in the registration activities. All training programmes for the administrative and technical staff at all levels directly or indirectly involved in registration should include a module on Civil Registration. Office of the RGI may provide necessary training modules/manuals to the training institutes for this purpose. Central budgetary support should be provided every year for undertaking training activities at state and district levels.

9) It was noticed that a number of posts are lying vacant in some of the states which is affecting registration activities. All the governments should take necessary steps to fill up the sanctioned posts so that the registration work is done smoothly.

10) As part of discharging overall civic responsibilities throughout the country the new generation needs to be sensitized at an early age regarding registration of births and deaths. This could be done by including specific chapter(s) in the curriculum. NCERT/ SCERTs may prepare appropriate material for inclusion in the school syllabus.

11) Information Technology should be deployed to improve registration, compilation of data and issue of certificates. Issue of certificates on-line from any place irrespective of the place of registration should be made possible in the future.

12) The goals set by the National Population Policy include registration of all marriages. Though marriage registration is provided for under various laws, they are voluntary in nature. It is felt that without an appropriate legal backing, it will not be possible to achieve registration of all marriages. It is felt that the registration of marriages should be considered as a positive and progressive step towards empowerment of women.

Contents of the Report

Part II -- REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION IN RELATION TO POPULATION STABILIZATION

>•>> Total Fertility Rate by Education and Residence (Charts)
>•>> Terms of Reference and Composition
>•>> Introduction
>•>> Policy Perspective
>•>> National Policy on Education 1986
>•>> National Population Policy 2000
>•>> Census of India 2001
>•>> Educational Response to Population Concerns
>•>> National Population Education Project
>•>> Contributions of NPEP
>•>> Need for Contributions of NPEP
>•>> Future Tasks
>•>> Strategies
>•>> Broad Approaches
>•>> Major Categories of Activities
>•>> Target Groups
>•>> Institutional Arrangements and Networking
>•>> Non-Governmental Organizations
>•>> Panchayati Raj Institutions

Part II -- REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION IN RELATION TO POPULATION STABILIZATION

(L to R) Dr. K.Venkatasubramanian, Member, Planning Commission and Chairman of the Working Group; Shri V. S. Pandey, Joint Secretary, M/o Human Resource Development and Convenor of the Working Group; Smt. Kiran Aggarwal, Principal Advisor, Planning Commission.

(L to R) Shri V. Asokan, Joint Secretary, NCP, Mrs, Krishna Singh, Member Secretary, NCP and Dr. K. Venkatasubramanian, Member, Planning Commission & Chairman of the Working Group.

Total Fertility Rate by Education and Residence

Source: NFHS_I (1992 - 93)

Source: NFHS-II (1998-99)

Government of India National Commission on Population

National Commission on Population vide the order No. N-11011/25/2000-NCP dated 4.10.2000 inter-alia constituted a Working Group on Primary & Secondary Education in relation to Population Stabilization under the Chairmanship of Dr. K.Vankatasubramanian, Member, Planning Commission. The terms of reference and composition of the Working Group was as under:-

Terms of Reference :

a) To identify gaps

c) To consider any other matter related with or incidental to the above terms of reference.

Composition

1.	Dr. K. Venkatasubramanian - Chairman Member Planning Commission New Delhi

2.	Dr. (Mrs.) Usha Nayyar, NCERT Mehrauli Road, New Delhi.

3.	Prof. Mohd. Amin, Ex- Vice Chancellor Jamia Hamdard D-25, Oxford Apartments, Plot No.11 , I.P. Extension Delhi- 110092

4.	Dr. Ketan Desai, President Medical Council of lndia Aiwan-E-Galib Marg, Kotla Road, New Delhi -110002

5.	Dr. Digvijay Singh, Ex-MP The Palace, Wankaner -363621 Gujarat

6.	Ms. Jaya Jaitley, National Executive Samata Party No.3, Krishna Menon Marg, New Delhi -110011

7.	Shri B.G. Deshmukh, Ex-Cabinet Secretary Director, Tata Industries Limited 24, Homi Modi Street Mumbai

8.	Smt. Kiran Aggarwal, Principal Adviser (Education) Planning Commission Yojana Bhavan, New Delhi -110001

9.	Shri A.R. Nanda, Secretary Department of Family Welfare, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi.

10.	Representative of NCP

11.	Shri V.S. Pandey, Convenor Joint Secretary, Department of Education Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi-110001.

12.	Prof. Nagvekar, Vice-Chairman (UGC), Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, New Delhi.

13.	Prof. J.S. Rajput, Director NCERT Sree Aravindo Marg, New Delhi.

14.	Prof. Kandelwal, Director, National Institute of Educational Planning and Admn. (NIEPA), 17-B, Sree Aravindo Marg, New Delhi.

15.	Dr. George Mathew, Director, Institute for Social Sciences, 8, Nelson Mandela Road, New Delhi.


Special Invitees:

•	Shri N.P. Singh, Secretary (Primary Education), Government of Bihar, Patna.

•	Shri A.K. Tripathi, Secretary (Primary Education), Government of Orissa, Bhubaneshwar

•	Ms. Meera Yadav, Secretary (Primary Education), Secretariat Annexe, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow.

•	Shri Bahuguna, Secretary (Primary Education), Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur.

•	Shri J.L. Bose, Secretary (Primary Education), Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal.

Introduction

School education as a potential agent of socialization plays a crucial role in preparing the young for adult life. It not only provides them opportunities to acquire a sound knowledge base and the basic life skills but also inculcates in them attitudes and values that help them in taking informed decisions on various issues confronting them. It is perhaps the only instrument of peaceful social change and hence encompasses everything that concerns the individual and the society. In is context school education is called upon to play key role in respect various dimensions of population phenomenon in general and population stabilization in particular.

In the course of endeavours being made to stabilize population growth in the country since early 1950s, the potential of education has been gradually realized. Education as a key determinant of population change has a crucial role to play in more than one way.

•	There is a significant correlation between the educational status of potential parents, and more particularly of the potential mothers and their fertility behaviour. The higher the level of education, the lower the fertility rates. The impact is very positive, if parents, particularly the mother has education at least up to the secondary stage
•	Education is one of the most effective vehicles of awareness generation among people about various population and development issues.

The most crucial role that education is expected to play in this context is to develop among learners positive attitudes towards population and development issues and influence their value orientation in respect of these issues so that they take informed and rational decisions for observing small family norm and having a better quality of family life. Particularly in the context of this role, school education, especially at primary and secondary stage occupies a central place, as attitude formation among learners takes place during these stages of school education.

Policy Perspective

The implications of rapid population growth for development were realized in India right at the beginning of the life of the Republic. A state-sponsored population control programme was launched during the First Five- Year Plan (1951-56) with a focus on clinical approach which was changed to a 'community extension approach' during the Third Five Year Plan (1961-66). The potential of the role of education in attaining demographic goals was realized at a later stage although the information, education and communication (IEC) strategy continued to be an integral component of the population programme strategy. It was for the first time in 1975-76 that the significance of education was reflected in the National Population Policy, presented in the Parliament on 16 April 1976, as a follow-up of which the preparatory work in respect of a National Population Education Project was initiated. Although the policy was substantially revised in 1977-78, and there have been regular changes in the foci and strategies of population policy thereafter, population education has continued to be an integral part of the IEC strategy ever since the Project was launched in 1980.

National Policy on Education 1986

The National Policy on Education, 1986 also reflected the magnitude of the demographic situation in India and encapsulated almost all critical population concerns while making policy guidelines for the Indian Education System. It identified ten "core curricular areas" out of which more than half were related to population concerns. Observance of Small Family Norm was one of the core elements, which was to be reflected in the National Curricular Framework. When the Policy was revised in 1992, population education occupied a distinct place. Population education was no longer to continue as an adjunct to the IEC strategy. The Policy Document in para 8.16 states:

"Population education must be viewed as an important part of the nation's strategy to contain the growth of population. Starting at the primary and secondary levels with inculcation of consciousness about the looming crisis due to expansion of population, educational programmes should actively motivate and inform youth and adults about family planning and responsible parenthood"

National Population Policy 2000

The perception of population issues reflected in the National Population Policy 2000 clearly marks a distinct departure from the past. The Objectives, National Socio-Demographic Goals for 2010, Strategic Themes and Operational Strategy delineated in the Policy Document demonstrate the urgent need to view population as an integral part of socio-economic development and quality of life of the people. The Policy Document focuses on the major components of population, development and quality of life that are crucial for attaining the goal of population stabilization such as the unmet needs for basic reproductive health and child health, universalization of elementary education and spread of literacy, empowerment of women, under-served population groups including adolescents, care for the older population and other related development concerns. In view of the stipulations made in the Policy Document the role of education at primary and secondary stages has assumed great significance.

Census of India 2001

The provisional population results of Census 2001 bring forth certain issues that add to the significance of the role of education. According to Census 2001, the population of India on 1st March 2001 was 1,02,70,15,247. During 1991-2001, 181 million people were added to the population of the country. Although the decadal growth rate has declined by 2.52 per cent from 23.86 during 1981-1991 to 21.34 during 1991-2001, there has been marked increase in the variations of the decadal growth rates among States. While Bihar has recorded the highest increase in decadal growth rate (28.43) during 1991-2001, the lowest growth rate has been recorded in Kerala (9.42) followed by Tamil Nadu (11.19). Andhra Pradesh has registered the sharpest decline (10.34 points) .The average annual exponential growth rate has also declined from 2.14 per cent in 1981-1991 to 1.93 per cent during 1991- 2001.

The most alarming finding of Census 2001 relates to sex ratio. Although the overall sex ratio has improved from 927 females per 1000 males in 1991 to 933 females per 1000 males in 2001, the sex ratio among children in 0-6 age group has sharply declined. The child sex ratio, which was 945 in 1991 has come down to 927 in 2001, a decrease of 18 points. This outcome is still more critical because the sharpest decline has been observed in relatively developed States like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh.

Although Census 2001 brings out a very encouraging result in respect of literacy rate, which has recorded an impressive jump from 52.21 per cent in 1991 to 65.38 per cent in 2001, the variations among States are still a matter of great concern. Adolescents continue to constitute nearly one fifth of the total population.

Educational response to population concerns

The findings of Census 2001 convey that whereas various interventions are being made since long to attain the goal of population stabilization, the demographic situation in a number of States is far from satisfactory and there are certain demographic features that cause concern in those States that have otherwise better demographic profile and are relatively more developed. They once again reiterate the need to create favourable situation that would have positive impact on the fertility behaviour of the people. For that education, particularly at primary and secondary stage, has to perform a very crucial role.

It is not that school education system of the country has not been concerned with population issues so far. It has been responding to various-needs and requirements of society including those related to population issues as well. Continuous efforts have been made to universalize elementary education (UEE) and attaining the goal of total literacy. A large number of interventions have been made particularly since the adoption of National Policy on Education 1986. Varied schemes like Operation Blackboard, Teacher Education, Non-Fomal Education, Mahila Shamakhya, National Programme for Nutritional Support for Primary Education, State Specific Project in Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and DPEP in 248 districts of eighteen States are being undertaken. However, the goal of UEE has not been achieved though there has been an improvement in the participation of girls, children belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, religious and linguistic minorities and other Backward Castes in the school system. The latest National Family Health Survey 1998-99 indicates that 79 per cent children in the 6-14 age group are attending schools.

The Evaluation Study on the total literacy campaign indicates that social mobilization did contribute to the attainment of the present status of literacy in the country. For the first time since independence the absolute number of illiterates have shown a decline. But the overall literacy situation particularly in demographically critical States still continues to be a matter of grave concern.

A major initiative has been taken under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) through a time-bound integrated approach, in partnership with States. It promises to provide useful and quality elementary education to all children in the 6-14 age group by 2010.