First electronic data base on citizens' primary information launched

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister John Seneviratne on Thursday introduced the country's first electronic data base on citizens' primary information.

He marked the opening of the data base at the Colombo Divisional Secretariat, Colombo 12 by issuing a computer-printed birth certificate to Colombo District Secretary Kamal Padmasiri.

The data base, known as e-population register is envisioned to enhance the efficiency of state-run Kachcheries throughout the island. The system will enable the public to obtain birth, marriage or death certificates without having to spend useful man hours at Kachcheries, said Information and Communication Technology Agency(ICTA) chief executive officer Reshan Dewapura.

ICTA has designed the project in keeping with the vision of the Mahinda Chinthana programme to enhance the efficiency of government sector services.

Steps will be taken to feed all information relating to births, marriages and deaths in Sri Lanka to what will be known as "e civil registry" in the future under the new system. The certificates of births , marriages and deaths will be printed using this data base.

The Registrar General is responsible for the maintenance and feeding of data to the system.

Children born in the future will get a unique identification number to ease future access on their information as may be needed by the government.

Minister Seneviratne said: " This is a time in our social structure where we all have a big workload. Therefore, we cannot permit ourselves to spend hours at government offices to obtain documents.

"People are compelled to go many times just to collect one's birth, marriage or death certificate. It was after passing that passage of time that we arrived at this juncture where people can no longer stand in vain at government institutions for hours to collect a birth certificate or marriage certificate.

"That is why that the system of technology has become our main focus over the years in terms of enabling state institutions to exchange citizen information safely and speedily."

He said they will carry this programme forward throughout the country. "We will next introduce the programme in the Kurunegala and Puttalam districts and then the Sabaragamuwa Province."

"We will have primary information of the country's citizens, such as, birth, marriage and death stored in a data base to enable us to issue these certificates to them in a matter of minutes without causing painstaking delays."

Besides, the system of e-population register will be invaluable in the preservation, conservation and restoration of people's official birth, marriage and death records, the minister said.

"I learned that an identification number is also to be issued to each citizen upon his or her registration under the system. This is needed for developing a country," he added.

Dewapura said it will be necessary for us to interact with state sector institutions to obtain their services to get our national identity cards, driving licences, passports, pensions and various other activities.

"The government too has a responsibility to serve the public in such matters," he said.

"In this era of Information technology, it is important that people can obtain their primary information, such as birth, marriage or death certificates without it being a hectic and time consuming process," Dewapura said.

Senior Urban Affairs Minister A H M Fowzie and Telecommunication and Information Technoplogy Ministry and Registrar General's Department officials were present.