The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023, introduced in the Lok Sabha, seeks to empower the Registrar General of India to maintain a database of registered births and deaths at the national level. If the bill is passed by the parliament and enacted, it will be obligatory upon the Chief Registrar and Registrars in States and Union Territories to share the data of registered births and deaths for the national database. The bill also provides for collecting the Aadhaar numbers of parents and informants, if available, in cases of birth registration. As the issue of determining Indian citizenship in Assam is yet to be legally and politically settled, the compilation of the state database in accordance with the proposed amendment may give rise to legal complexities. Such complexities cannot be ignored or wished away and must be addressed so that they do not leave legal loopholes. The proposed legislation provides for use of the birth certificate as a single document to prove the date and place of birth of a person born on or after the date of its commencement, for admission to an educational institution, issuance of a driving licence, preparation of a voter list, registration of a marriage, appointment to a post in Central Government or State Government or a local body or public sector undertaking or in any statutory or autonomous body under the Central Government or State Government, issuance of a passport, issuance of an Aadhaar number and any other purpose as may be determined by the Central Government in order to enhance the public convenience and to avoid multiplicity of documents to prove date and place of birth in the country. The preparation of a correct voter list in Assam after the identification of the illegal migrants in accordance with the Assam Accord is still pending. The final publication of the updated NRC is crucial to determining who is eligible to get enrolled in the voter list in the state, as only those whose names are included in the final list and their descendents will be treated as Indian citizens in Assam. If the voter list is updated based on the single document of the birth certificate, then in respect of those born on or after the enactment of the proposed Act, it will be of paramount importance to ascertain whether the names of their parents are there in the updated NRC. The biometrics of about 28 Lakh people in Assam have been locked up with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) authorities, due to which they are unable to obtain their Aadhar registration. Therefore, linking the registration of births with Aadhar numbers for many people in the state could be complicated until the issue of unlocking their biometrics is resolved by the NRC authorities. The proposed bill seeks to amend The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, which is a simple law for the regulation of registration of births and deaths in the country. An amendment to this Act is long overdue as it is inadequate to address legal issues associated with population data due to fast-changing demography, migration of people, and population dynamics in a globalised world. The provision for digital registration and electronic delivery of certificates of births and deaths in the proposed legislation is laudable, as it will make the process smooth and service delivery much faster. Adequate safeguards will be required to be built into the system to protect the national and state databases from cyberattacks. Provisions in the bill to facilitate the registration process of an adopted, orphaned, abandoned, surrendered, surrogate child, or child to a single parent or unwed mother; making it mandatory for all medical institutions to provide a certificate as to the cause of death to the Registrar and a copy of the same to the nearest relative are essential legal reforms that were long pending to keep pace with changing social realities. It also provides for the appointment of special sub-Registrars” in the event of a disaster or epidemic for speedy registration of deaths and the issue of certificates. Viewed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic fallout, which spanned for nearly two years, this is critical to ensuring that registration of births and deaths is continued to keep updating the data on a real-time basis in the event of such prolonged disruption. The provision of digital registration will help address technical challenges and overcome logistical and governance challenges such as the requirement of lockdowns and restricting movement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Assam government, members of parliament, political parties, student and youth bodies, and other stakeholders expressing their opinions will help lawmakers address the issues specific to the state. Any legal loopholes in the amended law facilitating illegal Bangladeshi migrants to get enrolled in the national population register or voter list will exacerbate the demographic threat to Assamese and other indigenous communities.