Population data gap

Reports that the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) has not yet registered almost 32 million births recorded by Union Councils are a glaring illustration of the country's digital divide. On one hand, we have NADRA's technological wizardry, which has led to 97% of the population being registered as part of one of the world's largest multi-biometric databases. On the other, there is the silent administrative failure that renders millions of children invisible, as far as official records go.

NADRA has a laundry list of achievements, including 1.68 billion fingerprints on record and rapid record updates when people die, showing improved data integrity, which makes the authority a rare Pakistani success story in e-governance. But the birth registration gap, which comes despite the authority's Pak Identity app and mobile registration vans making record submission more accessible, reflects a bottleneck at the UC level. There is also concern that the figure of 31.9 million — census data suggests it represents over five years' worth of new births — is so high that it is either exaggerated or reflective of a massive failure. Conclusively proving either is difficult, but it is worth noting that there is significant avoidable duplication in the process from registering a child's birth to eventually having the information added to the national database.

Integrating UC recordkeeping with NADRA could enable faster data entry, reducing NADRA staff's roles to verification and enabling them to not only clear the backlog but also process new data faster. Punjab's new CRMIS app, which uses cloud-based data-sharing, is a step in the right direction and could be replicated by other provinces. Access to cloud-based services and digitalisation initiatives at the UC level will also help get past gaps in computer literacy and access, especially in villages and small towns. NADRA could also make user experience improvements in its own Pak ID app. In an era when quality data means everything, NADRA must use its technical expertise to bridge the local-to-national divide.