7,719 people have registered for adoption till March 4, 2016, Rajya Sabha was told today.
2836 Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) have opted for male child, 2724 for girl child and 2159 have not specified any gender, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said citing the data of Central Adoption Resource Authority's (CARA).
"In order to encourage in-country and inter-country adoption of children, the adoption procedure has been simplified and made online through Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) since August 2015," she said.
As per the information provided by CARA, the number of PAPs registered for in-country and inter-country adoption is 7586 and 292 respectively as on March 4.
The in-country adoption in 2012-13, 2013-15 and 2015-16 was 4694, 3924 and 3988 respectively and the inter-country adoption in the corresponding years was 308, 430 and 374 respectively, the data stated.
