He said the states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra had been doing well and were nearing the cent per cent target.

He said even in the neighbouring state of Punjab, it was 89.3 and 87.8 per cent respectively. In Haryana, the rate of birth and death registration was just 75.7 and 72.6 per cent respectively. The situation in the rural areas of the state was well below average and only few people could produce the birth certificate of their children at the time of admission in the school.

He said as part of the measures, the authorities concerned had distributed 37 lakh certificates in the state to be given to the children at the time of their birth in the past about two years.

In Faridabad district, 1.30 lakh and 2.05 lakh certificates had been given in the rural and urban areas respectively during this period.

He stated that the government had made compulsory the birth certificates at the time of admission to the schools in every government and private school.

The Census Commissioner also announced that the Union government would soon be providing ‘multi-purpose identity cards’ to the residents and for getting such a card, one would need a birth certificate.

He said from January 1, 2005, the government had authorised the primary health centres to register the birth and death, which had earlier been done by the police stations of the area concerned.

He said now all such incidents could be recorded by the authorised persons, including the Anganwadi worker, village chowkidar, multi-purpose health workers and the sarpanch of a village.

He said the applicant would be required to fill up a form and submit at the health centre. He asked the district officials to create an awareness among the people, especially in the rural areas about the need and importance of the registration of births and deaths.