Birth registration process needs a final thrust
THE local government bodies tasked with registering the birth and issuing certificates for it are facing a big challenge ahead. That is because they have only a few months in their hand to complete the job by June 2010.
Back in 2001, the project of birth registration and certification was taken up largely at the initiative of the Unicef. But since the first deadline could not be met over a period of seven years until 2008, now the job should have to be done by June 2010 according to the rescheduled time line.
What is so far the achievement of the local government bodies like the union parishads (UPs), upazila parishads, municipalities and the city corporations, who are responsible for completing the mission within time left? It is learnt that till last June 58.77 per cent of the total population could receive their birth certificates. The job has a long way to go in nine months.
It is worthwhile to note that the worst performer is the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), which could register the births of only 13.28 per cent of the city's population. Perhaps, that is partly because of the large presence of homeless people in the city. However, the authorities concerned put the poor performance down to shortage of manpower. We suggest hiring of seasonal workers for the purpose.
Enormity of the challenge notwithstanding, there is no question of going back on it. For at stake is the fundamental rights of the newborn child as well as the access of the population to a good number of services of the state like getting a job, business, passport, TIN number, opening bank account, getting married, being identified as a voter and so on, to mention but a few. So, to have the job done within the stipulated timeframe, a massive campaign has to be launched to build up people's awareness and motivate them to come forward with birth information on their own. This is very important. Service of the mass media, both electronic and print, may be pressed to sensitise the population about the need for it and their right to it.
Bangladesh has carved out a name for itself among the South Asian countries for its successful child immunisation programme. If such a massive undertaking could be synchronised with clockwork precision, why can't the birth registration process be speeded up in a similar fashion to meet the deadline?
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