PM IAS MAY 06 EDITORIAL

India’s Civil Registration System Report

GS Paper – 1,2 Population and Associated Issues.

Why in the news?

• The Union Territory of Ladakh has the highest sex ratio at birth in the country in 2020, according to the newly released annual report on Vital Statistics based on the 2020 Civil Registration System Report (CRS).
• The Registrar General of India issued the report.
• The number of girls born per thousand men is referred to as the sex ratio at birth. It is an essential metric for mapping a population’s gender disparity.

What is the role of the Registrar General of India?

• The Registrar General of India was established by the Government of India in 1961 as part of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• It organises, conducts, and analyses the findings of India’s demographic surveys, such as the Census of India and the Linguistic Survey of India.
• A public officer with the rank of Joint Secretary is normally appointed to the job of Registrar.
• In India, the Civil Registration System (CRS) is a unified procedure of continuous, permanent, mandatory, and universal registration of vital events (births, deaths, stillbirths) and their characteristics. The data supplied by a comprehensive and up-to-date CRS is critical for socioeconomic planning.
• Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD) in India became necessary with the adoption of the Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD), Act 1969, and is done according to the location of the event.
• According to the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) 2020-21 annual report, the Central government intends to modernise the Civil Registration System (CRS) to enable real-time birth and death registration with minimal human interaction, regardless of location.

What exactly is the RBD Act?

• The Recording of Births and Deaths Act (RBD Act) was enacted in 1969 to improve uniformity and comparability in the registration of births and deaths throughout the country, as well as the compilation of vital statistics based on such registrations.
• Registration of births, deaths, and stillbirths became required in India with the passage of the Act.
• Births and deaths are registered throughout the country by officials designated by state governments.
• The directorates of Census Operations are subordinate offices of the Office of the Registrar General, and they are in charge of supervising the implementation of the Act in their respective states and Union Territories.

What are the Report’s Highlights?

1. Ladakh (1104) has the highest Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) in 2020, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (1011), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (984), Tripura (974), and Kerala (969).
2. In 2019, Arunachal Pradesh has the highest sex ratio at birth (1024), followed by Nagaland (1001), Mizoram (975), and the A&N Islands (965).
3. The information on sex ratio at birth was “not available” in Maharashtra, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.
4. Lowest Sex Ratio at Birth: Manipur (880), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (898), Gujarat (909), Haryana (916) and Madhya Pradesh are the top five states with the lowest sex ratio at birth in 2020. (921).
5. Gujarat (901), Assam (903), Madhya Pradesh (905) and Jammu and Kashmir had the lowest sex ratios in 2019. (909).
6. Birth Rate: The reported birth rate decreased in Nagaland, Puducherry, Telangana, Manipur, Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Gujarat, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Mizoram, and Chandigarh.
7. The registered birth rate increased in Lakshadweep, Bihar, Haryana, Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
8. Death Rate: The death rate in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Nagaland, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Andaman & Nicobar Island, and Assam increased in 2020 compared to 2019.
9. Bihar saw the greatest rise in mortality rates (18.3 percent), followed by Maharashtra (16.6 percent) and Assam (14.7 percent).
10. Meanwhile, mortality rates in Manipur, Chandigarh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh, and Kerala fell in 2020 compared to 2019.

Infant Deaths: According to the study, 1,43,379 infant deaths were documented in 2020, with the rural region accounting for just 23.4 percent of total registered infant deaths, while the urban area accounted for 76.6 percent.

Non-registration of newborn deaths in rural regions was a source of worry, as did failure to notify infant deaths to Registrars, particularly in cases of domiciliary occurrences.