While the Indian Government states that it is the right of all Indians to have a birth certificate. They have also made the process of applying for one, mandatory. However, the process gets a little tricky depending on where the child is born. In India, there are offices of the Registrar of Births and Deaths in every Indian State and it is quite simple to work on the process of applying for a birth certificate. Additionally, they have also created an online portal that assists with making the entire process a little easier. However, these rules change when referring to Indian’s living out of the country.
What are the rules for Indian’s being born abroad?
While Indian’s who are born abroad have to be registered for the country to receive proper statistics, the process might be a little trickier.
● India has multiple missions abroad where people can register the birth of their children. This is ideal for Indians who live abroad and they can get in touch with these offices to get through the process.
● Indian missions abroad are bestowed with powers by the Home Ministry through an order allowing them to register the birth of children. They are allowed to handle this even after expiry of a year under Section 4 of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
What are the rules relating to registering a birth?
Following the guidelines of the Indian Government, there are several rules that have to be followed. These are the details
● The birth has to be registered with the concerned local authorities in less than 21 days after the individual has been born.
● The birth of a person is usually registered by filling up the form prescribed by the Registrar. This information is double checked post submission by the same office and the birth certificate is then issued after verification with the actual records of the concerned hospital.
● In case the birth wasn’t registered within the mentioned period since the child was born, the certificate is issued only after due police verification ordered by the revenue authorities.
● If Birth Registration is not done within the specified period, then registration can be done within one year by paying a late fee.
● If the Registration was still not completed in a year, it can still be done through a slightly more complicated process. registration can be made at any time by submitting an affidavit. The magistrate verifies the details of affidavit and if they find everything satisfactory, issue the order to the Registrar to enter the entries of birth in birth register.
○ The format for the affidavit is available at the Registrar’s office, with a notary, and can be looked for online as well. In this process the Registrar will ask to deposit the late fee amount in his office.
○ A self attested copy of Matriculation certificate, Aadhaar card, PAN card if attached with the affidavit will help in easy completion of the process.
What can you learn from a death certificate?
There are a lot of individuals that want to know about their ancestors or elderly people where they do not give much heed to the death certificates. Although we might already know as to how our elderly or ancestors died where we might think that rummaging through death certificate might not be worth our time, it should be noted that the death certificates hold a lot of vital information where we can know a lot about our ancestors or elderly individuals.
Through the death certificates we can gain a lot of information about the demised like the name of their children, spouse, parents, siblings, where they were married or where they were born, what occupation they had, did they serve in the military, and what was their cause of death. All of these little details can tell us a lot about our ancestors where we can gain new information about their life.
Important information which we can learn from the death certificates include:
What was the cause of the death?
If you want to know about the medical family history of the deceased, you can gain the information from the death certificate since the document includes the cause of death. Since you will be reading about information from the past, there will be some terms used like “dropsy”, which means swelling or oedema. You might also find information that the cause of death might have been due to surgical mishaps, occupational accidents, fire, etc.
What was the occupation of the deceased?
Occupations define a part of who they were as a person, so with the help of a death certificate, you will know as to what the deceased person did, i.e. if they were an accountant, a farmer or a coal miner, you can know all the details through the death certificate. You can also further up the research through the death certificate.
Who their family members were?
If you want to know about the family members of your deceased ancestor then the death certificate will provide essential information as to who their family members were. The death certificates usually list down the members who are next to kin. The obituary list will also mention a list of members who were related to the deceased member.
Did they serve the military?
If you want to know whether your ancestors served in the military then not only death certificates but tombstones, and obituaries is a perfect place to look at. There will also be a mention of the military unit and branch and also the rank in which they served and which time of the year did they serve. With all of these details, you can know if your ancestors served in the military.
Place and Date of Birth
The death records can tell you a lot about the date of their birth and as to which place they were born
Documents for Passport Renewal
Passport is document that allows its holders international travels. The Passport Act 1967 says that, the passport proves the person’s identity as an Indian citizen. the passport has important details like full name of the applicant, applicant age and gender of the applicant, country code, passport number, date and place of birth, date and place of issue etc. Once the whole process is complete, it will take approximately 30 days for receiving the renewed passport. The Indian passport has a validity of 10 years. Once the validity period expires, the passport shall be renewed.
Documents required for passport renewal
Here is the list of important documents required at the time of passport renewal are as follows –
l original passport which has expired.
l The application form which carries the APN
l Residential proof it can be a gas bill, telephone or water bill.
l Ration card along with the permanent address details.
l A national identity card such as voter ID card or an Aadhar card.
If the permanent address has been changed and is not the same, the applicant will have to submit a copy of the first page, the ECNR page and last page of the expired passport, these documents has to be self-attested., the applicant have to submit a residential proof of the new address which can be either of the options, as mentioned above.
Fee details
The passport renewal fee is different, depending upon the number of pages included in the passport. the amount to be paid is Rs. 1,500 For a passport with 36-page. Rs.2,000 for a 60-page. To renew passport for a minor between the age of 15 to18 years the fee is Rs. 1,000 for the 36-page and a 60-page passport is not applicable.
Facts about passport renewal in India
l With the alliance of the Indian government with the TCS – Tata Consultancy Services ( a 10-year contract in 2008) an increment by 69% has been observed in the number of passports issued to the Indian citizens, in 2012.
l In 2017, it has been claimed that TCS, that it charge Rs. 200 for its passport services depending upon applicant.
