Assertion (A) and Reason (R) are given below. Choose the correct option: Assertion (A): Demographic statistics like birth and death rates rely on accurate reporting by households. Reason (R): Birth and death registration is mandatory and always accurately followed in all parts of India.

Correct — C. A is true. Birth and death rates are built from reported events, and the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 makes the head of the household report a birth or death at home.

R is false. Registration is compulsory in law but not complete in practice: PRS, citing the Registrar General, puts the 2019 national level of registration at 93% for births and 92% for deaths.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A — R is false, so it cannot explain A. The word always sinks it: registration is compulsory, yet 2019 coverage stood at 93% of births and 92% of deaths.
• (b)
  Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation — Needs R to be true. Registration is mandatory but not universal, so 'always accurately followed in all parts of India' is false.
• (d)
  A is false, but R is true — A is true. Vital statistics depend on events being reported, and Section 8 of the 1969 Act makes the head of the household the informant for births and deaths at home.

India's Civil Registration System records births, deaths and still-births on a continuous, compulsory basis under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969.

Section 8 names the informant: the head of the house or household for an event at home, the medical officer in charge for one in a hospital.

The Registrar General also runs the Sample Registration System, a large demographic sample survey that estimates fertility and mortality.

Key facts

• The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 governs the registration of births and deaths in India.
• Section 8 makes the head of the house or household report a birth or death at home, and the medical officer in charge report one in a hospital.
• PRS, citing the Registrar General, gives the 2019 national level of registration as 93% for births and 92% for deaths.
• The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023 has the Registrar General keep a national database of registered births and deaths.

Common traps

• Reading 'mandatory' as 'universally followed' and marking R true.
• Marking R as the explanation because it sounds like a reason, before checking that it is true.

No directly related past PYQ was found.