S2NRI

If your birth is not registered, it’s the case of unregistered birth. There are hundreds of NRIs and citizens are in the need of birth proof. This is called a birth certificate.

However, parents should get their child’s birth registered within 21 days of the birth. This service is absolutely free during that span. After that, you have to pay a late fee.

In addition, there are conditions like a flood, natural disaster, drowning, or thievery that can make you lose this proof. In this case, also, the bearer won’t have any proof. This would be considered as an unregistered birth by the Municipal Corporation or SDM office. These are two different cases but are treated as unregistered birth.

How to Get a Birth Certificate in India if Not Registered

Here is how one can get a birth certificate.

• For those who have not registered ever:
  • The person has to visit the nearby municipal corporation (MC), or SDM office.
  • Apply for the certificate with the registrar of the MC.
  • Show the supporting documents of the birth, as proof.
  • Pay the late fee and get a receipt.
  • Get it after a week or the day when it is told.
• For those who have registered, but lost the proof:
  • Visit the MC office or SDM office.
  • Get a Non-Availability of Birth Certificate (NABC).
  • Fill it up with the correct and valid date, name, and parent’s details.
  • Pay the fee.
  • This procedure will end up in routing instruction to the MC. The registrar raises a request for finding the old proof. If it’s there, he would find and hand over a copy of the original. It will be original birth proof.
  • Else, the applicant has to apply for an affidavit from the A-gazette officer, stating the accurate date of birth, parents’ details, and address. Then, get it attested from the SDM. It will be treated as proof of having no birth proof. The MC will issue a new one upon verifying it.

Checklist of Supporting Documents

These are must-haves for withdrawing your certificate. Here is the checklist of all papers that you must carry along with:

• Hospital records/papers having the name of parents and the child, signed by the doctor
• School records, as in a School Leaving Certificate, Mark Sheet, Matriculation Certificate, Degree Certificate or 10th/12th Class Certificate
• A letter from the School’s head stating the name of the applicant, DoB and place together with the parent’s name on that the letterhead of the principal
• State of Federal Census records, like ration card
• A church record that bears its seal at the time when Baptism occurred, stating the name, parent’s name, place, and DoB
• An adoption decree at the time of adoption
• Voter ID Card
• PAN Card
• Passport (Expired or Current)
• Aadhaar Card
• Driver Licence

In the second (B) case, the affidavit & form-10 for NABC are also inclusive. It should be drafted by either of the parents or close relatives. This should not be drafted by the applicant himself.

This is a sworn statement, which reads the following details:

• Full Name of the Affiant
• Address of the Affiant
• Date & Place of Birth of the Beneficiary
• Relationship with the Beneficiary
• A Complete Detail in The Context of Beneficiary’s Birth & Relationship

Upon getting this proof, the NRIs must have to get it registered with the embassy. Some non-residents want to get it officially entered in India’s government record. It is simply because they want their child to be regarded as a citizen of this country.

In their case also, the procedure would be similar. But, they may apply from the embassy.

• They have to fill up an application form for placing the request.
• Upload the document of the child, as of hospital papers or any other birth proof (as aforesaid in the checklist).
• Schedule an appointment with the consul if required.
• Then, visit on the scheduled date to verify all documents from there.
• Thereafter, the same verification procedure will be carried out the backstage via embassy’s request to MC.

In this case also, the checklist of the documents should be considered. These should have the following valid papers:

• Transfer/School leaving/Matriculation certificate from the school last attended or any recognized educational board
• PAN Card
• E-Aadhaar Card
• Voter ID Card
• Driving Licence
• LIC Policy Bonds
• Pension Records

The acceptance of a National Register of Citizens or NRC bill has created mayhem in India. The activities of vandalism are taking now and then afterwards. The environment is radically chaotic. However, these are some serious issues that you cannot take with blindfolded eyes.

But, this article is basically about the only proof that is acceptable for NRC. It is the birth certificate. The Modi-led government has announced that the birth certificate could be the only boat to sail across the NRC challenge.

IndiaSpend analysis shows that any document related to the date and place of birth is a concrete evidence of citizenship for the National Register of Citizens. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) states that the birth of only three out of five children under the age of five had been registered in 2015-16. This statistics is much improved (i.e. 62.3%) if is compared with these registrations in 2005-06, i.e. 26.9%.

No birth registration was a sort of likelihood before 2005, which has become a norm today to prove your legal identity as a citizen of India. The aforementioned analysis also disclosed that the downtrodden families, especially for scheduled castes and tribes, are more likely to not have it.

More Alternatives to Prove Citizenship:

However, it is contradictory. But, what the Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said sounds different than that of what the Assam government has announced. The latter state government has declaimed any proof of date and place of birth in relation to the NRC is acceptable. The checklist includes-voter cards, passport, Aadhaar card, licences, insurance papers, school leaving certificates and document related to home and land.

On the flip side, the Union Home Minister in an interview on December 20, 2019 had a different saying, which apparently rejected Aadhaar, voter card and passport as a first proof of citizenship. Besides, the parents need not submit any documentation compulsorily.

A reputed human rights lawyer of Guwahati, Assam clarifies that the birth certificate is found one of the most popular linkage document. That’s why it is admissible as per the NRC for children. It is simply because it is the only document of minors that can be linked with parents’ document.

Unregistered births and deaths are a challenge

As of now, the government infrastructure is not conducive to launch NRC, according to Shamika Ravi (director of research at Brookings India) and Mudit Kapoor (an associate professor of economics at the Indian Statistical Institute, ISI, in The Indian Express). If considered the case of Assam, children below 18 do not have voter cards. If they have not been appeared in the Class 10 or 12 board exams, the only document to resort to is the birth certificate. Unfortunately, nearly 40 lakh people did not provide this proof. So, they were left out.

Moreover, the UNICEF has reported in 2019 that India is one of the countries wherein half of the world’s 166 million children live. Nearly 24 million children under 5 did not register their birth. On one side, the registration of Births and Death Act, 1969 mandates registry of every birth and death within 21 days. On the other side, its system named only 84.9% of all births and 79.6% of all deaths in 2017 in the register.

Amidst all these provisions and happenings, the unregistered birth could be legally registered. However, the register could be a census of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).

Reasons for unregistered birth

The count of birth registration has been up in 2017, i.e. 84.9%, which was just 76.4% in 2008 as per 2017 Vital Statistics of India based in Civil Registration System report. This rate was mere 56.2% in 2000. The states that topped the rank in the least registries are Uttar Pradesh (61.5%), Bihar (73.7%), Madhya Pradesh (74.6%) and Jammu & Kashmir (78.8%).

The so called reasons were inadequate staff, software glitches and network issues. The true reasons behind this flaw were the unaffordable infrastructure and poverty, which hampers the traveling to the nearest registration centre. Besides, there was no immediate demand pertaining to birth certificate for any social services of the government.

The poverty is another major cause of these unregistered births. The urban areas have 77% of all children who have their birth proofs, whereas only 56.4% of the children in rural areas have it. If you weigh the percentage of the richest wealth group with the poorest wealth group, the difference can make you dumbstruck. It is (82.3%-40.7%) 41.6%, as per NFHS-4.

Caste system and uneducated mother are a few more reasons of this happening.

In the nutshell, the new constitution has alarmed every Indian to register their child’s birth, although they live in India or in abroad. This is why the demand for this certificate is skyrocketing out of the blues.