Ladakh holds first IDCC meeting to strengthen online birth, death registration
Leh, Jan 7: Amit Sharma, IAS, Director Census Operations (DCO) & Director Citizen Registration (DCR), Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs for the UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh got 1st Inter-Departmental Coordination Committee (IDCC) Meeting organised in UT of Ladakh which was chaired by Sanjeev Khirwar, Principal Secretary Health & Medical Education Department and attended by Shashanka Ola, Rural Development and IT Secretary, Chief Medical Officer and his team, other officers of UT Administration and Directorate of Census officers including Joint Director Arun Kumar, Deputy Director Manmeet Singh, Assistant Director Sunil Kumar, System Integrator-II Himanshu Raina and others.
DCO/DCR Government of India, MHA for J&K and Ladakh Amit Sharma, as per an official statement, made a detailed presentation about the Civil Registration System (CRS) and its requirements for which the portal is available to the citizens of the nation for getting births and deaths registered which is a mandatory requirement under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, (RBD) Act 1969 and RBD Amendment Act, 2023.
Alongside, DCO/DCR Amit Sharma also insisted on appointment of Medical Superintendents and Hospital / Health Centre heads as Registrars in the UT for registering births and deaths with active involvement of Directorate of Economics and Statistics for capturing the vital statistics of citizens and later compilation of accurate online database, with is already being done in the neighbouring UTs and states.
Principal Secretary Health Department Sanjeev Khirwar assured DCO/DCR J&K and Ladakh Amit Sharma regarding prompt action in same alongwith activation of payment gateway for Ladakh UT at the earliest so that public can directly file their applications for getting birth and death certificates online at the central portal without any need to physically visit Municipal offices/hospitals, etc for the said purpose.
DCO/DCR J&K and Ladakh Amit Sharma also requested that medical registration of cause of death is another important aspect which is to be implemented in UT of Ladakh and it was decided that Joint Director of DCO J&K and Ladakh shall help to rope-in best national repute institutions to provision requisite training to medical practitioners here to ensure medical registration of cause of deaths.
During this maiden IDCC Meeting, it was also decided that all the past data regarding births and deaths shall be digitized for the convenience of public of Ladakh UT and it shall be made mandatory to register Aadhaar of the newly born infants, whether it happens institutionally or otherwise, for which the health department teams assured to implement it in UT in future.
Finally, as suggested by DCO/DCR J&K and Ladakh Amit Sharma, it was decided in the meeting to hold next review meeting to see progress in all the decisions taken in this IDCC Meeting within a span of next six months after ensuring in-principle that Ladakh UT can fully implement the online registration of births and deaths in Union Territory through spread of mass awareness using multiple various channels of Rural Development, Urban Development, Planning and Monitoring, Information Technology and all related departments.
