Birth Certificate in Bangalore

I was recently blessed with a baby in Manipal Hospital Bangalore. It is now more than a month after home-coming and as a first time parents we are going through the highs and lows of nurturing a baby. It is not easy to manage the chaotic life immediately after the birth and hence now with some breather, I thought of going after the birth certificate from BBMP.

It was a real surprise that not much information is available online about getting a birth certificate, expect this post from Amit, that is more than five years old. The post was very useful (including some comments) but few things have changed and I wanted to share that information with everyone.

In the hospital you are going through so much of panic, stress, sometimes mental defeat that any formalities seem like a huge burden. Unfortunately I had no-one except my wife (who was obviously more stressed than me) during this crucial period. The first mistake that I made was to not provide the baby name for hospital certificate. We had all the time in the world during the pregnancy to decide on one name of boy and one name of girl. This would have been really useful later on as you will see. If the name of baby is not provided then in such a case the hospital will issue a birth certificate with “Baby of [Mother Name]”.

The second mistake that I made is not to visit the BBMP office within one month of birth. The hospital, based on the form submitted by you, forwards all the details of the birth to the BBMP office. The good part is that now-a-days all of this is online so in most cases the data reaches the BBMP office within couple of days. It is important to ensure that all details are correct in the hospital records and the certificate you receive from hospital.

When I received the birth certificate from Manipal Hospital (Ground floor behind the inquiry counter they have medical records office), I was given a map of the BBMP office in Kasturi Nagar. This was the same office which was earlier in Domlur and is now shifted to Kasturi Nagar. The map was pretty accurate and I reached the office at 11 AM. I had already downloaded the application for birth certificate form and filled the same. The interesting point to note is that this form has no option to provide the baby’s name. When I reached the Kasturi Nagar BBMP office, first floor (which was pretty small with just three desks) the person told me that I have to go to the Majestic office because it is more than a  month of the birth.

But instead of directly going to Majestic office, I asked few people and got to know that the BBMP office in Mayo Hall is good enough. When I reached the Mayo Hall office, the counters are on the ground floor itself. I could have got the certificate there itself, but for the fact that the hospital records did not had the baby name. So the person at Mayo Hall told me that they can give a birth certificate without the name of the baby. The name can be added later, but since I did not wanted to visit again, I decided to go to the Majestic BBMP office.

There are two BBMP offices in Majestic (near Upar-pet Police Station). The one adjacent shopping complex to the police station has the office that I finally reached. In the office at the ground floor, you can get the form (in case you did not download) and an additional form to enter the baby name in the birth certificate. I filled up both the forms and reached second floor and submitted the form. I paid Rs 140 and got a receipt for the payment. It will take a week for the certificate to be ready, which I need to go and collect from the ground floor. Some points to note:

• As per the lady at the counter, you need to apply for minimum three copies and maximum five copies of the certificate. 
• I did not had to go through any additional process (like going to court etc) even after one month. I think same applies for application within one year of birth.
• One person in front of my queue faced the issue that his details were not available with BBMP, so may need to cross-check with hospital.
• There is no need of going to a middle-man for birth certificate, since the process is simple, except the need to visit the BBMP office.

I was really impressed with the straightforward process of getting the birth certificate and the forms are also very simple. Interestingly, BBMP is in the process of enabling online application of birth certificate and issuing a digital certified copy to the applicant. Although it is not yet started but it is a great initiative. Another effective method is to allow the BangaloreOne centres to issue birth certificates.

You can read this document to know why birth certificate is required and important. The key points on why birth certificate is required are (from document):

• A birth certificate is needed to obtain a passport, a marriage or a driver’s license. It may be required to open a bank account, to apply for and secure formal employment and to inherit property
• A birth certificate may also be needed obtain family allowances, ration card, insurance, and a pension.
• A birth certificate proving identity and age is the gateway to democratic participation in civil society, enabling a person not only to vote in electoral
  processes, but to contest for Public office.
• A streamlined birth registration system, with a unique identifier for each child can pave the way for a sophisticated citizen’s multi-purpose identity card.

I will upload a sample copy once I receive the birth certificate for my daughter. Share your experiences in the comments!!

Update: I got the certificate.
Update2: As requested by anonymous comment, here is the map location of Upparpet Police Station
View Upparpet Police Station in a larger map