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The Office of the Registrar General, India is responsible for collection,
compilation and dissemination of vital statistics in the country. This
office coordinates and unifies the activities of registration of births
and deaths in the country through a Central Act known as Registration
of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 and also compiles statistics generated
through Civil Registration System on an annual basis. However, due to
the incomplete registration of births and deaths in the country a scheme
known as Sample Registration System (SRS) was introduced in 1964-65 on
a pilot basis and on full scale from 1969-70. The scheme is a large scale
demographic survey based on dual record system which provides reliable
estimates of births and deaths rates at state and national levels for
rural and urban area separately. It also provides various other measures
of fertility and mortality. The Office of the Registrar General, India
is also responsible for supervising the work of Medical Certification
of Causes of Deaths through which data on causes of death are collected
and compiled on a regular basis. In fact, Office of the Registrar General,
India is the largest deepository of data on vital statistics in India.
One
of the most important indicators to measure the quality of life of population
is the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). In India it is observed that the IMR
has shown steady decline from 129 in 1971 to 80 in 1991. However, subsequently
the IMR had remained more or less stagnant between 1992 (79) and 2000
(68). To discuss the reasons behind the stagnation in the decline of IMR
in India over the last decade and other related issues the Office of the
Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India has convened a two-day
workshop at New Delhi. A large number of scholars and administrators
are
participating in the workshop.
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