Birth certificates made must for marriage certificates

JAIPUR: The Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) is making birth certificate mandatory to procure marriage certificate for those who will marry after October 1.
At present, residents can submit documents such as class X marksheet or passport to verify their age for obtaining the marriage certificate. Officials claimed the amendment has been made to spread awareness about birth certificates and curb child marriages."Following the central government's vision document 2020, there is an amendment in the procedure. Producing a birth certificate will not be mandatory for those couples who got married before October 1," said a JMC official. The new system is expected to create more complications for the residents as the JMC has failed to simplify many existing provisions.
According to the prevailing system, a person's name cannot be changed in the birth certificate once it is issued by the corporation. People can change their names through courts but in birth certificates, the old name cannot be struck off.
Similarly, if parents have different surnames in documents/records, there is no provision to change it. Due to this, many residents are facing difficulties in getting passports.
Couples from different religions cannot approach the city corporation to get their marriage certificates.
The JMC had to prepare guidelines to issue marriage certificates to 'inter-religion' marriages. However, nothing has been done in this regard as yet.