The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023 is a legislative Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 26, 2023, which has since been passed by Parliament and enacted as an Act to amend the existing Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (RBD Act). The original RBD Act, 1969, was enacted to create a uniform, mandatory legal framework for the registration of births and deaths across India, which was previously patchy and voluntary in many areas, and came into force on April 1, 1970. Its primary purpose was to establish a comprehensive civil registration system to compile vital statistics and demographic information.
The 2023 Amendment Act modernizes this framework by introducing several key provisions. First, it mandates the creation of a national database of registered births and deaths, to be maintained by the Registrar General of India, with state Chief Registrars and local Registrars obligated to share their data. Second, it requires the use of a birth certificate as a single, mandatory document to prove the date and place of birth for purposes like admission to an educational institution, preparation of voter lists, and appointment to a government post, for persons born on or after the Act comes into effect. Third, it allows for the issuance of electronic certificates instead of just extracts from the register. Fourth, it requires the collection of the Aadhaar number of the parents and the informant, if available, during birth registration. Finally, the national database can be connected to and used to update other databases, such as the population register, electoral rolls, and ration cards. The amendment replaces the previous system of state-level databases with a unified, digital national system.