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For legitimate births

Even as the country clocked its billionth child, an estimated one out of every three births in India continues to go unregistered. This despite the fact that denying a child its first and basic right of identity is a punishable offence all over the w orld!

India is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, where Article 7 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 by his or her parents.''

And despite the ratification of this human rights treaty, millions of children worldwide join the ranks of ``missing people''.

Jervase Thomas, In-Charge, Plan International (India-Chapter), points out that first comes a child's right to life, while the seventh right pertains to a legal existence. Lack of birth registration often leads to the child's exclusion from State benefits such as education, health care and legal protection.

Founded in 1937, Plan International is a child-focussed development organisation with operations spanning 40 countries. It embarked on the `Unregistered Children Project' in 1998, in partnership with the NGO committee of Unicef, to popularise birth regis trations in Asian countries.

Beginning with the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, Plan International used sample surveys and interfaces at various levels to prepare comprehensive country reports covering all aspects of civil registration. This exercise culminated in an action plan to achieve complete registration.

Interestingly, Jervase points out that Thailand was not included in the project as its registration system was highly evolved.

The project's second phase, which began in July 1999, involves interfaces with civil registration authorities in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

In India, Plan International hopes to instil an awareness on birth registration and collaborate with Government authorities in formulating a time-bound action plan for compulsory registration.

In 1969, the Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD) Act was passed, replacing existing laws. The century-old Birth, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886, had proved inadequate following the reorganisation of States in 1956.

Jervase equates registration to vaccination: ``Just as immunisation safeguards the child from fatal diseases, a birth certificate ensures the child's social well-being. Registration gives the child a legal status of existence.

``In addition to giving the child a name and an identity,

birth registration in some countries also provides the child access to basic services and protection from the State.''

A birth certificate becomes a necessity under the following conditions: to prove a child's nationality and identity for enrolment in schools; to avail of a ration card, drivers' licence or passport and to ensure the child's protection against exploitatio n, sexual abuse or trafficking.

``In most cases of child labour, the child is tutored to say that he or she is above 15 and there is no way that the inspecting authority can check the authenticity of that information, as there is no documentation, not with the employer or the parent,'' Jervase says.

The burden on local authorities can be reduced by creating databases and loading the information online. However, this would take time, he says.

Touching on some of the pitfalls in the present system, he says: ``India does not have a unilinear system for registration. In some States, birth registration is headed by local Health Ministry officials, while in others it is the officials of the Econom ics and Statistics Department. Naturally, the Health Ministry officials would have dual responsibilities and birth registrations take a backseat.''

And, believe it or not, there is a perceptible gender bias in birth registrations, too! According to Jervase, officials

often notice that only the sons are registered and not the daughters. And curiously enough, in other instances, only the daughters were registered -- the motivation being, as Jervase quickly points out, the State or Central Government benefits given to g irl children.

Another practice peculiar to the country is the delay imposed by tradition in `naming' the child. ``Naturally, it is difficult for parents to get their children registered, as the child has no name,'' Jervase observes. However, even in such cases, there is a provision to register the child three months after birth. But not many parents are aware of this. ``And this is the condition not in remote rural India, but also in the heart of urban India, in the capital city of Delhi!''

One of the steps outlined in the action plan suggests simplifying the registration process and taking the registrar's office to the people rather than forcing them to make repeated visits to the office. Jervase cites the interesting case of Punjab where birth registrations are high as they can be done at the local police stations.

Besides calling the bluff on child-labourers, birth certificates can also take care of the refugee problem and protect legal residents from being branded as refugees, Jervase explains.

Plan International has expressed a desire to adopt one district in Madhya Pradesh and make it a role model. It also proposes to draw up a five-year action plan to achieve 100 per cent registration of new births. ``But all this would be targeting the new births. One still needs to develop a method to cover the existing unregistered people,'' he says.

And it would take all the ingenuity of both the Government

authorities and non-governmental organisations to overcome this hurdle and map the ``missing people''.

Highlights of the action plan drawn up by the first-ever national conference on birth registrations held in the Capital recently.

Policy level

Amend the 11th Schedule (73rd CAA) to explicitly include civil registration.

Amend the Birth & Death Registration Act to provide for catch-up registration at the time of the child's first immunisation at six weeks; to provide for mobile registration units and relaxation of time limits.

National level

Focus on poor-performing States.

Inventory on best practices, both within and outside the country.

Multimedia and sensitising packages for officials and the public.

State level

The Chief Registrar should have separate budget for non-Plan activities such as training staff in monitoring and supervising registrations.

Others

Seek corporate commitment, especially from the IT industry for networking and training, and the chambers of commerce.

Pic.: The official one - billionth Indian child at a Delhi hospital.