The Civil Registration System (CRS) report 2020 was released at least a month before its schedule.

What is Civil Registration System (CRS)?

• The CRS collates data on all births and deaths registered with local authorities across India.
• The CRS report is released by the Registrar-General of India.
• It releases its report around 18 months after a year ends.

Significance of the 2020 Report

• The 2020 report was released at least a month before schedule.
• Such data can be of significance during a pandemic as possible covid-19 deaths may not have been categorized as such in official records.
• The CRS can help us reach an estimate by using the “excess deaths” approach.
• It is the difference between the total number of deaths registered in a pandemic year and the number of deaths that normally take place in a year.

Why was the data released ahead of schedule?

• India and the WHO are locked in a tussle over the latter’s excess death estimates that would give a sense of pandemic-linked fatalities globally in 2020-21.
• India has reportedly stalled WHO’s efforts to release the data, claiming flawed methodology.
• WHO is set to release its estimates today, a possible reason that India released CRS data early.

Why is India contesting the WHO approach?

• One key objection by India is that WHO has classified it as a Tier 2 country and hence used a different modelling process to estimate excess deaths from that used for Tier 1 countries.
• WHO says all countries that made available their full all-cause mortality data for the pandemic period were classified as Tier 1.
• India is in Tier 2 because it didn’t share official data with WHO.
• Hence, alternative data and modelling methods had to be adopted, adjusting for factors such as income levels, covid-19 reporting rates, and test positivity rates.

What does the 2020 data show?

(a) Covid deaths

• The CRS report for 2020 has recorded deaths of 8.12 million Indians, 6.2% more than 2019.
• Normally, an unusual increase in deaths would be linked to the pandemic. However, in India, not all deaths are registered.
• Thus, a rise could simply be because of more families getting deaths registered.
• The CRS for 2021, which saw more Covid deaths, may not be out until next year.

(b) Improvements in sex ratio

• Highest Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) based on registered events has been reported by Ladakh (1,104) followed by Arunachal Pradesh (1,011), A&N Islands (984), Tripura (974), and Kerala (969).
• The lowest sex ratio was reported by Manipur (880), followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (898), Gujarat (909), Haryana (916) and Madhya Pradesh (921).

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

Attend Now