Bengal govt creates a better version of birth and death registration software
The state’s Bureau of Health Intelligence has created software for registering births and deaths, which automatically links and blocks, respectively, a person’s identity documents as well, to help in the better and quicker delivery of services.
It is an issue that states have been grappling with for a long time. While uploading birth and death data onto the Central government’s portal, the Civil Registration System, which ideally needs to be done daily, often software glitches happen or, if too many states begin uploading data at the same time, the data gets lost somehow.
The Bengal government decided to take things into its own hand. As a result, the State Bureau of Health Intelligence has created a software for this purpose which would make things much easier.
The state’s software also has certain very useful features missing from the central birth and death registration software.
Two of them are the automatic linking and de-linking of government-approved personal identity documents. When a child’s birth is registered, the software will automatically link that data with either the Voter ID Card (that is, Elector’s Photo Identity Card, or EPIC) or Aadhaar Card or ration card of either of the parents.
Conversely, when a person’s death is registered, and the death certificate issued, the software will automatically block any one of the above three identity cards so that computer systems, be it in government or private institutions and offices, become aware immediately and concerned officials face fewer hassles.
The new software would be gradually linked to the computer systems registering births and deaths in all the government and private hospitals, civic body-run hospitals, Matri Sadans (state government-run maternity centres), crematoriums, burial grounds and other places across Bengal.
The linking of certificates during birth would help during the making of identity cards for the child, as there would be no additional need to give an address proof since that of one or both of their parents is already known, explained an official of the Bureau of Health Intelligence.
As for the automatic blocking of identity cards after death, the official said that it would help when it comes to stopping subsidies issued against the name, for claims related to pension and insurance, etc.
While explaining the advantage of the state government’s software, the official gave an example, saying that since the automatic blocking of identity documents after death does not happen while using the Central government’s software, family members must submit documents and death certificates manually at government offices.
The new software would be initially instituted in all the government medical college hospitals, Matri Sadans and crematoriums and burial grounds within the limits of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, after which it would be rolled out across the state.
