Nope..not since 1980's... everyone if not all births are registered atleast in most places, even from what I understand in small villages nowadays..
Infact since 1989 I think,its mandatory for everyone to have a birth certificate which u only get if the birth is registered and it would not suffice if we give a court affidavit or something...
Its not ironic.. the govt is asking for proof abt ur birth location and stuff.. Hv seen so so many countries asking for some document even though they massively suffer from those problems..DOnt wanna take country names here hence not mentioning..

It's probably still the case that most of India's Cabinet Ministers -- present and/or past --either don't have a birth certificate or have one that is inaccurate. With India's Prime Ministers, it is even less common for there to be one or one that is accurate.

The 21 and under crowd is another story.

Not sure how much is their fault, though. My mother's is also inaccurate. When she was registered, they basically put in a random date. Now she celebrates 2 birthdays

i know exactly what you mean....my mother has 2 birthdays as well....thanks to the random date on her birth certificate....

OK, so maybe the issue wasn't the presence of a certificate but just that the bureaucrats made little effort to make them accurate. I mean here in the US, creating one of those is one of the first things that happens in the hospital. I have my original with my newboard footprints on it. Maybe an attempt to remedy baby switches, people taking home the wrong one. I'd guess that when a woman gives birth in her hut or remote village, the time and date aren't dutifully recorded to make the eventual certificate dead accurate.

Who said the bureaucrats are generally responsible for the lack of accuracy when it comes to Indian records related to births? The responsibility for the inaccuracy of records marking births generally rests with the parent(s) who often decide to even get the season and/or year off.

In the US, there are still many Americans who have been born without being issued a birth certificate, and this is still the way it is in some places for some people. I wonder what the Indian government is going to do about such persons who may apply for a visa.

The Indian government should be aware that it's not like birth certificates across the entire US are "secure" documents and free of all inaccuracies and misuse. If anything, identity theft using birth certificates to get a passport is much easier in the US than in India, even as money speaks in much the same way in both places.

Yeh, I'm guessing that's why Canada won't let you just present the birth certificate at the border. Requesting "duplicate" birth certificates for people whose obit ran in a newspaper is a known scam. That's why I think we need a 21st century form of ID that involves more than some of these things that have been around for so long I don't even know when they first we accepted. Really something like Global Entry is more like what people should have. Something a jihadist can't just order up from whoever cooks up false documents.

The whoever is usually the government agency entrusted with the job of verifying documents. It's really not that difficult to have the identity you want, even in the US today.

Wow. Can I have Tom Brady's identity? I love that wife of his.

That starting guess would be a wrong guess -- it was the US which initiated the push for and first succeeded at getting agreement in place for the elimination of the use of birth certificates for intra-North American (including Caribbean) travel by US citizens. Canada followed the US lead and did the US's bidding. The WHTI is the initiative of the the most paranoid, with the (even marginally) more carefree following the US like good sheep.

Your closing sentence comes across as nothing but wishful thinking in a world where:

Yes. Money talks in the US today too and that's not going to change anytime soon.

While India is pushing for birth certificates from US citizens, India is still planning to expand the visa on arrival process to cover more countries' nationals. US and UK citizens aren't going to be part of the next expansion.

Just because United Airlines treat their passengers poorly doesn't mean that Jet Airways and Kingfisher lower themselves and do the same.

u r right.. BUT when those United Airlines faithfuls start complaining abt some rules which jet or kf changes or makes which are still better than those in United.. then we have a problem....

If I were doing this, I'd want to secure the package somehow, not wanting to risk these documents floating around in the mail. In fact, secure fax would be a preferable option, just like pharmacies demand nowadays.

this may be a bit confusing, however I urgently need an answer for this...being a canadian citizen, born in the Gulf ..I'm of Indian descent and I still have my old Indian Passport.

So for this new rule , to have the Birth Certificate required to apply for Indian tourist visa, can I instead provide them with a copy of my Old indian Passport ?

eagerly awaiting a reply, thank you for your help in advance.