The Hindu : Karnataka News : Registration of births, deaths is the duty of citizens: Ananthamurthy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Registration of births, deaths is the duty of citizens: Ananthamurthy

Staff Reporter

`Child-centric social development can become a reality if women want'

BANGALORE: The registration of births and deaths is the duty of citizens and not the responsibility of the Government, and the advantages of registration far outweigh the drawbacks, eminent writer and chairman of the Institute of Social Sciences, U.R. Ananthamurthy, said here on Monday.

Speaking at the inauguration of the State-level convention on "Panchayats and Child Rights: Birth Registration as the First Child Rights Issue," the Jnanpith Award winner said gram swaraj has become a huge success in West Bengal, and there are many innovative ideas that can be emulated by panchayats in the State. A good way to start would be for women, who maintain and run the family keeping the best interests of every member in mind, to extend this to the community. Child-centric social development can become a reality if women participate in the affairs of the community, Dr. Ananthamurthy said.

Administrative diversity that works best for the local community is needed, just as there is cultural diversity. Gram panchayat members, both men and women, should not hesitate to use their powers as elected representatives to influence the entire community on the issue in the interests of children and society, he said.

G. Prakasham, Director of Economics and Statistics and Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths, said though the law making registration of births and deaths mandatory was passed in 1969, the Government has not been very successful in ensuring total compliance. The national registration average stands at 55 per cent, though the State is doing well at 75 to 80 per cent.

"Registration of births is a decision that parents must make. After all it opens doors — to education, health, employment and other basic rights as a citizen." Mr. Prakasham said.

Never too late to begin

Though it is 36 years since the law was passed, it is never too late to begin the corrective exercise, and the best place to begin is the gram panchayats. The panchayats may not have jurisdiction but they can use the powers to change the mindset of the community, he said.

Vasudeva Sharma of Child Rights Trust, which is engaged in initiatives that seek to make the child the focus of policy-making and legislation, said that during the gram panchayat elections in February this year, an exercise was undertaken to assess whether the candidates were aware of child rights conventions, and whether they had access to statistics and other profiles of the child population in their villages.

The exercise was a revelation as it turned out that candidates, both men and women, had not given those questions a thought, let alone ponder the significance of such data, he said.

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