Thaindian News

New Delhi, Mar 5 (ANI): The Annual National Conference of Chief Registrars of Births and Deaths will begin here today.
Chief Registrars of Births and Deaths from the States / Union Territories as well as Secretaries / Special Secretaries / Principal Secretaries overseeing the work of registration of births and deaths, besides representatives of Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Women and Chief Development, Statistics and Programme Implementation, Planning Commission, UNICEF, Plan India and officials of the Registrar General, India and Directorates of Census Operations in the States / Union Territories will participate in the two-day conference.
During the conference, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Brihat Bangaluru Mahanagara Palika are slated to make presentations on the on-line registration of births and deaths in their respective corporations for the benefit of other participating states.
The topical issue relating to registration of babies born through assisted reproductive technology is slated to be discussed in the conference in order to arrive at a consensus on the subject so that the same can be conveyed to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which is in the process of finalizing the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill, 2008.
The legal and practical problems associated with electronically-generated birth and death certificates under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 will also be discussed in the conference.
The National Conference of Chief Registrars is an annual event to review the functioning of the Civil Registration System in different States and UTs. which are working at various levels of efficiency.
This occasion is primarily utilized to take stock of the situation, find out possible remedies to the problems encountered during the implementation of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 and chalk out appropriate strategies for achieving universalisation of registration in the country.
It also provides an opportunity to learn from the experiences of different stakeholders working in the field of the Civil Registration System in various parts of the country and thus offering the best practices for effecting the overall improvement in the system.
The recommendations flowing from the deliberations in these Conferences in the past have helped in improving the level of registration of births and deaths in the country to about 68 per cent and 63 per cent respectively in 2006 from the level of 58 per cent of births and 51 per cent of deaths in 2002.
These conferences have also facilitated revamping of the Civil Registration system wherein all the forms including Birth and Death Certificates have been standaridized across the country.
The deliberations of the conference would go a long way towards improving the civil registration system in the country. (ANI)