The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Tamper-proof birth certificates soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 26, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Tamper-proof birth certificates soon

V. Geetanath

Municipal corporation initiates measures to eliminate fake and tampered documents

HYDERABAD: Foreign consulates insist on it for visa approvals and our own Governments are keen on implementing the statutory rule more strictly these days. Birth certificates have acquired `never before' importance and with it fake or tampered ones too have begun to surface.

Faced with such complaints and to make birth certificates foolproof, the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad has introduced new securitised birth certificates from this month. The new certificates have five distinct features that are tamper proof, according to MCH Commissioner, Chitra Ramachandran.

These certificates are currently being issued in circle offices and will be made available in ward offices soon. MCH is also mulling to make available registration forms at eSeva centres for people to apply and these can be sent to applicants under registered post after attestation by the medical officer.

The MCH dishes out 10,000 birth certificates on an average each month and in May and June, it is around 30,000, courtesy school admissions. It also receives nearly 15 queries on the validity of such certificates. Among these, three to four are on either fake or tampered ones.

Though the situation elsewhere in the State is not clear, registration of births (or deaths), which has to be done within 21 days, is said to be "more than 100 per cent" in Hyderabad.

"There is lot of awareness in the city and moreover, people come from nearby districts for deliveries here," explains an official.

Hospitals and nursing homes were already sounded last year on going online for birth registrations by linking up with the MCH portal.

As a pilot project, 50 hospitals in Secunderabad are to be linked.

"We want to make the system less cumbersome and help people avoid coming to our offices. Records up to 1958 are also being digitised," says the Additional Commissioner of Information Technology, T. Vijaya Kumar.

Births are recorded by hospitals and submitted to MCH, which in turn issues certificates after verification.

Online hospitals are to have their own home pages to fill in names and download forms.

While certificates can be taken any time after registration, deadline for adding names is 15 years from the date of birth.

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