National Birth and Death Registration Day was observed on 6 October. The theme this year was ‘register births and deaths, ensure civil rights’. But the Prothom Alo report on the matter revealed the endless hassles a person has to undergo to avail this right.
While there was some hesitation at the outset, now people are eager to have births and deaths registered. The problem is that they cannot avail this service in due time. Every day thousands of people face all sorts of sufferings when they try to get births registered. They are often told, “the server is down”, or the service simply isn’t functioning.
A parent in Dhaka said he hadn’t even been able to apply despite trying for a month. He has tried at day and night, morning and evening, but couldn’t use the specified site. Another guardian, outside of Dhaka, said he has been unsuccessfully trying for two months now.
Registrar general of births and deaths, Md Rashedul Islam, said that that there is no problem with the server. The problem is that the people do not know how to use it and also there is a lack of a skilled workforce. Failure can’t be covered up by simply passing on the blame. Those seeking service and the service providing agencies both say that the server is not functioning. Yet the registrar general says that the service is fine.
As the government is doing the birth registration digitally, they must look into the matter. Previously births would be registered directly. Since 2010, birth and death registration is being son online. On average, 20,000 births are being registered every year. A fewer number of deaths are registered. With school admissions for the new year coming up, pressure on birth registration will start increasing now. There may be over 30 thousand registrations a day on average. So if the problem isn’t resolved, the sufferings will mount.
Director of Dhaka University Institute of Information Technology, Professor BM Mainul Hossain, told Prothom Alo that if the server has a low capacity, that must be increased. If there is any bug or flaw in the server code, that must found and fixed. And the server must be made user-friendly. The fact is that while all council offices have been provided with servers, the capacity is less that the demand.
The birth and death registration office is following the same policy of other government offices, denying any problem. This is abhorrent. If the sufferings of the people are to be reduced, the problem must be admitted and steps taken accordingly
When asked if the capacity of the server will be increased, the registrar general said everything that is required for the server to function properly has been done.
In August the scope for individuals to apply for birth and death registration themselves was halted due to the leak of thousands of people’s information being leaked in July. Who will the registration office blame for such inefficiency and mismanagement?
The birth and death registration office is following the same policy of other government offices, denying any problem. This is abhorrent. If the sufferings of the people are to be reduced, the problem must be admitted and steps taken accordingly. If there is no skilled workforce, training must be arranged immediately. If the capacity of the server is lower than required, a higher capacity server must be procured. Maintenance must also be duly carried out with sincerity and efficiency. If not, the people coming to register births and deaths will continue to face such sufferings.