Civil Registration System

Subject – Governance

Context – Establishing reliable, real-time mortality surveillance is an essential element of pandemic preparedness

Concept –

The history of Civil Registration System (CRS) in India dates back to the middle of the 19th century.
In 1886 a Central Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act was promulgated to provide for voluntary registration throughout British India.
Post-independence, the Registration of Births and Death Act (RBD Act) was enacted in 1969 to promote uniformity and comparability in the registration of Births and Deaths across the country and compilation of vital statistics based thereon.
With the enactment of the Act, registration of births, deaths and still births has become mandatory in India.
The Registrar General, India (RGI) at the Central Government level coordinates and unifies the activities of registration throughout the country.
However, implementation of the statute is vested with the State Governments.
The registration of births and deaths in the country is done by the functionaries appointed by the State Governments.
Directorate of Census Operations are the sub-ordinate offices of Office of the Registrar General, India and these offices are responsible of monitoring of working of the Act in their concerned State/UT.
Civil Registration System (CRS) in India is the unified process of continuous, permanent, compulsory and universal recording of the vital events (births, deaths, stillbirths) and characteristics thereof. The data generated through a complete and up-to-date CRS is essential for socio-economic planning.