Documentation chaos! Centralised system glitches delaying issuance of birth, death certificates

The Union government's centralised Civil Registration System (CRS) portal, designed to streamline the registration of births and deaths across India, has been plagued by significant technical glitches for the past four months. This disruption has resulted in delays in issuing vital registration certificates, as reported by multiple state government officials as reported by The Hindu.

Mandatory digital registration of births and deaths was mandated by the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, enacted in 2023, which requires that all events occurring from October 1, 2023, be logged through the government’s online portal at [https://dc.crsorgi.gov.in/crs/](https://dc.crsorgi.gov.in/crs/).

As of now, 23 states and six union territories have transitioned to the new portal, with states like Tamil Nadu required to send data to the Centre in real time under the 2023 amendment.

Concerns over the system's reliability were highlighted in an August 5, 2024, letter from the Bihar government's Chief Registrar (Birth and Death) to the Registrar General of India (RGI). The letter described severe issues encountered by district authorities since migrating to the portal on June 10, including slow processing speeds, delays in generating one-time passwords (OTPs), and persistent error messages that have caused a significant backlog in registrations.

“Due to the revamped CRS portal being extremely slow, the OTPs not being generated in time, and the continuous display of error messages, there has been a huge backlog in all the registration units in the State,” the letter stated. Registrars have been compelled to grapple with public frustration due to these persistent issues.

Officials from other states have echoed similar sentiments. In Nagaland, which transitioned to the portal on May 13, an official reported that they were unable to issue birth or death certificates for three consecutive days due to technical failures. “We have been filing complaints to the RGI office in Delhi,” the official disclosed.

In Chhattisgarh, a district representative mentioned “teething problems” since the state adopted the portal in March, even stating that the system frequently freezes for extended periods. A source in Bihar reported difficulties with data correction entries causing system crashes.