Making online birth registration easier

Birth registration is compulsory for each and every citizen. The government of Bangladesh has recently introduced a new birth registration process, which is entirely virtual, and expected to be more efficient and hassle-free. However, I am not among the fortunate ones.

I had received my birth registration certificate from Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) several years ago. Naturally, the certificate is not an online one as it was issued much before the virtual system had been introduced. Recently, I tried to register for my national identity (NID) card online but failed. I went to the local office of Election Commission in Dhaka city's Khilgoan area. One of the EC officials informed me that I could not fill up the form because I do not have online birth registration certificate, and asked me to apply for a digital birth certificate afresh. He also told me that the manual birth certificate is now of no use.

When I tried to apply for my online birth registration certificate, the system asked me to submit the numbers of my parents' online birth certificates. The authorities have made parents' online birth certificates mandatory for registering the birth of those born after 2001. This rule has left me in trouble since I do not have my parents online birth certificates. But they have their NID cards. So, I urge the authorities concerned to amend the rule of submitting parents' online birth certificates, and hope their NID card numbers would be sufficient to register a birth.

Tahsina Ashraf,

Central Bashabo,

Dhaka