Punjab begins birth registrations by mobile phone
In a bid to ensure 100 per cent registration of child births, the Punjab Government has decided to equip all Nikah Khawans and Union Council Secretaries with modern android mobile phones for registration of newly born children.
The provincial government has signed an agreement with Telenor Pakistan in this regard. UNESCO is also one of the principal sponsors of this project.
The project will be initially launched in ten districts with child birth registration below 50%. These districts include Vehari, Jhang, Pakpatan, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh.
The registration of new born child will be completely free, and all parents have been advised to approach the regional officials for this purpose within 60 days after the birth of a child.
According to Punjab government officials, a pilot project was previously launched in Union Council Kalyana of Pakpatan district to test the success ratio; where the number of registered children rose dramatically.
Under this extended project, all of the Nakah Khawans and Union Council Secretaries will be trained to use Android mobile phones and, later on, the Nakah Khawans will collect basic data on every newborn child in their areas. The Nakah Khawans will then forward the received data to Union Council Secretaries who will enter the data in public records.
The provincial Local Bodies Department has already started providing the training facilities in the remote area of the said ten districts. The project will be increased to all districts of Punjab in two to three phases, afterwards.
Meanwhile, the provincial has announced that no penalty will be imposed for late registration of children while only Rs.100 fee will be charged for issuance of digital birth certificates. It is also taking steps to collect data about number children working on bricks kilns in deprived districts of the province.
It may also be mentioned here that currently around 33.6 percent of newborn and below five year age children are formally registered with the government. However, the Punjab Government aims to enhance the registration ratio of hundred percent by 2020.
According to UNICEF, around 290 million children do not possess a birth certificate globally, without birth certificate; they can face problems later in life if they want to enrol in university, find employment, buy property, access justice or get a passport.
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