New Delhi, Mar 5 : The National Annual Conference of Chief Registrars of Births and Deaths began here today.

In his opening remarks, the Registrar General of India, D. K. Sikri said that National Population Policy 2000 has mandated cent percent level of registration of births and deaths by 2010.

"The current level of registration is 68 per cent for births and 63 per cent for deaths. The level of registration has steadily gone up over the years," he said.

The States of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have made considerable improvement in the last four years. But in the case of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the things need to be expedited.

He said that without these States, registration of births in the country is 82.5 per cent and that of deaths 72 per cent.

"It needs to be understood by all concerned that registration of births and deaths is a national responsibility. There is also a need to propagate it to all and sundry that registration of births is an universal right of the child under Article 7 of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to which India is a signatory," he added.

Kerala was awarded the first prize and Tamilnadu second prize for commendable performance, among major States.

In the medium-size States, Delhi was adjudged first and Himachal Pradesh second whereas Pondicherry bagged the first prize and Chandigarh second prize among small States/UTs.

The purpose of the two-day conference is to take stock of the situation as regards registration of births and deaths in various States, share experiences and collectively work towards national goal of universal registration.

The conference will also review the functioning of the Civil Registration System across the States/UTs and find out ways and means to accelerate the level of registration.

It is felt that active participation of all stakeholders would help in better understanding of the issues and would greatly facilitate streamlining the registration system in the State.

Among other items on the agenda are, the entry of names of parents of babies born through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in the births records and legal validity of electronically generated birth and death certificates under the RBD Act, 1969.

The conference is being attended by the representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Planning Commission, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries from various States, Chief Registrars from various States and their colleagues, the representatives from UNICEF and Plan India. (ANI)