Thirty years after the registration of births and deaths was made compulsory, the country's record in this respect remains spotty at best.

While Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa have 100 per cent levels of registration, at the other end of the spectrum are states like Bihar, UP and Assam, where only about 20 per cent of births and deaths are registered.

But now a quiet effort to improve the nation's vital statistics has been launched by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, whose office is ultimately responsible for the collation and tabulation of the overall figures.

Some states like Gujarat, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have made remarkable strides in civil registration, says M. Vijayanunni, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. These states are now caught in a fast-paced race to make it to the 100-per cent milestone. Both Gujarat andPunjab have already crossed the 80 per cent level.

But the most remarkable performance has been in Himachal Pradesh. In the last three years alone, Himachal Pradesh has hiked up its civil registration figures from 50 to 80 percent.

With the Chief Minister downwards involved in the massive effort, and the state's Health Ministry giving it a forward push, the state hopes to give front-runners Gujarat and Punjab a run for the one hundred per cent mark.

In fact, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana observed `Registration Months' to create an awareness among the public and to give a fillip to registration work.

But the campaign in the states to raise the levels of civil registration has also thrown up other interesting facets. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have revolted against being clubbed with Bihar and UP under the collective umbrella of the `BIMARU' states.

Coined to represent Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, BIMARU as the name implies refers to the sickly nature of social indicators inthese states. Abysmal levels of literacy coupled with poor health statistics, including very high infant and maternal mortality figures, paint a dismal picture.

The argument put forward by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is that unlike the case in Bihar and UP, the state governments in Jaipur and Bhopal are actively engaged in the herculean task of pulling up the social indicators.

Campaigns are in full swing, the officials from these two states claim, to eradicate illiteracy, improve female literacy and augment the outreach of primary health services. This apart there are pockets in these states, and in Madhya Pradesh in particular, which are doing very well, and others where noticeable progress is being made. The two states clearly don't want to be stuck with the BIMARU epithet and want to put as much distance as possible between themselves and Bihar and UP.

The usual strategies employed by the local administration in the rest of the country just don't work in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Primarily, itreflects the complete failure of the administrative machinery in these states.

Enervated officials who have tried different strategies to draw a response from the Bihar and UP governments quail at the wall of inefficiency and unresponsiveness that meets all efforts at change. Whether it is a campaign to promote literacy, family planning or health care, weak or non-governance has resulted in a state of paralysis rendering all efforts void.

The figures for some other states are nothing to write home about. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh may be cherishing futuristic visions for his state, but at the ground level only 35 per cent of the births in the state get registered.

In West Bengal, the figure hovers around 50 percent and in the rural areas the figures for civil registration would be far worse.

The very process of registering births and deaths was introduced in India for the first time in 1866 in Berar and the Central Provinces which are now a part of Madhya Pradesh. This 132 year-old traditionshould be another reason for Madhya Pradesh to improve its civil registration records. Made compulsory throughout the country with the passing of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, the law was also an attempt to ensure uniform rules and procedures when it came to civil registration. Both births and deaths have to be registered with the civil authorities within 21 days of the event.

But thirty years down the road, on average only 50 per cent of the births and 45 per cent of the deaths in the country are registered. Birth registration is essential for school and college admissions, getting ration cards, passports or driving licences. Death certificates become indispensable for claiming insurance, inheritance of property and transfer of bank accounts or share certificates. The importance of registering births and deaths is not merely for civic reasons. It provides a profile of society, and serves as a continuous and permanent source of crucial statistics. For any government, a fair idea of thenumbers involved would be a vital input in the task of planning and future projections, especially in the context of decentralised planning in the country.

The low registration figures also point to the lacunae in the existing system. The public's fear of the paperwork and red-tape involved in any dealings with the local bureaucracy and the lack of access to a registration centre are all contributory factors.

Merely setting up registration centres may not be enough. People in rural areas neither perceive any need nor any benefits from registrations of births and deaths. Unattended births or deaths away from the hospital environment are often not reported since the people in remote villages may just not be aware of the need to inform the district registrars office.What is needed is a full-fledged campaign, in both the print and audio-visual media, to make people aware of their responsibility to get births and deaths in the family registered. Primary health workers, school teachers, postal employees can allbe roped in to serve as information gatherers in this gigantic task.