Lok Sabha passes registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023; check details

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday (August 1) successfully passed the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, although it faced opposition protests related to the ethnic violence in Manipur. The proposed amendments put forward in the Bill advocate for the mandatory integration of Aadhaar, India's biometric identification system, to monitor and record occurrences of new births and deaths within families.

The main objective behind this plan is to create a comprehensive and centralized database encompassing all birth and death records, which will then be utilized to synchronize information across various governmental databases. These databases include the National Population Register, voter rolls, ration cards, passports, driving licenses, and Aadhaar records.

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This initiative would enable the government to track every Indian citizen throughout their entire life, starting from the moment of birth until the time of their passing.

Moreover, the Bill not only emphasizes the requirement for birth certificates for various purposes, such as school admissions, voter registrations, marriages, passport issuance, and government job applications but also deems them necessary for almost any other circumstance as decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

However, this provision has raised concerns among critics, who worry that it could lead to potential queues and challenges similar to those experienced during the rollout of Aadhaar.

As the Bill advances through the legislative process, the government must address these concerns and engage in transparent discussions to ensure that citizens' privacy and data security are adequately protected.

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The comprehensive tracking and integration of individuals' data across multiple databases raise valid apprehensions about data privacy and potential misuse. Hence, it is crucial for the government to strike a balance between maintaining an efficient record-keeping system and safeguarding the privacy rights of its citizens.