Application for govt services to be simplified

Birth, death certificates to have 1-page form

Applications for majority of services like birth or death certificates will soon be simplified and converted into one-page form format, the government announced on Friday.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh also unveiled a one-page application form for pensioners on 'good governance day', coinciding with the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Singh said the aim behind this initiative is to make the forms as simple and small as possible for the beneficiary.

"There should be relevant and minimum information asked for in an application form for government services and not repetitive ones," he said.

Singh, minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions, said he was coordinating with state governments and Union territories to replicate the same process.

"Every month, we will be holding meetings with at least two central government departments and reviewing forms available for different services under them. Efforts will be to simplify the whole procedure, and we hope to achieve the target of single-page form for all government services within a year's time," the minister said.

Currently, one has to fill lengthy forms for getting birth, death and other certificates. Secretary in personnel ministry, Sanjay Kothari, said the government planned to integrated Aadhaar number with government services, so that people do not have to fill out whole details.

"We will be integrating Aadhaar data base for the services. But this will be possible only when all the people have Aadhaar numbers. It will further benefit people as they will not be required to fill out basic details like their residential address, among other things," he said.