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Express Impact: Mother’s name now a must to download birth certificate from PMC site

To collect a birth certificate from a PMC office, a citizen needs to provide ID as well as prove their relation to the person whose birth certificate is to be collected.

2 min readPuneUpdated: Dec 20, 2025 01:20 AM IST

The earlier version of the website allowed any citizen to download the birth certificate of any other citizen. (File photo)

The birth certificate download tab on the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) website has been modified to make the mother’s name a compulsory field, after a report by The Indian Express in September showed that the website allowed mass downloads of birth certificates by just entering the date of birth. Manisha Naik, assistant medical officer of Health at PMC’s Health Department, confirmed that the change was made after the report was published.

The report had exposed a contradiction in the procedure to attain a birth certificate at PMC offices and the website. To collect a birth certificate from a PMC office, a citizen needs to provide ID as well as prove their relation to the person whose birth certificate is to be collected. However, the earlier version of the website allowed any citizen to download the birth certificate of any other citizen. Entering a date of birth on the website displayed birth certificates of all citizens born on that day in the city.

Now, entering the date of birth along with the mother’s name in Marathi has been made a compulsory field (denoted by an asterisk) on the website. In September, Naik had told The Indian Express that the suggestion to make the mother’s name a compulsory field was a good suggestion and could be incorporated. Accordingly a few weeks later the change was introduced.

Naik now said that records of all birth certificates available with the PMC from the 1960s onwards are available for download on the website. “It took us 4-5 years to digitise all the data. Earlier we used to have a data entry person filling in all new birth data collected from the hospitals but now we have provided the hospitals with a login and they fill the data themselves which is then validated by us.” She said that this has made the data uploading process much faster and even new birth certificates are available after a dozen or so days.

Soham Shah

Soham Shah is a Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Pune. A journalism graduate with a background in fact-checking, he brings a meticulous and research-oriented approach to his current reporting. Professional Background Role: Correspondent coverig education and city affairs in Pune. Specialization: His primary beat is education, but he also maintains a strong focus on civic issues, public health, human rights, and state politics. Key Strength: Soham focuses on data-driven reporting on school and college education, government reports, and public infrastructure. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) His late 2025 work highlights a transition from education-centric reporting to hard-hitting investigative and human-rights stories: 1. Investigations & Governance "Express Impact: Mother's name now a must to download birth certificate from PMC site" (Dec 20, 2025): Reporting on a significant policy change by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) following his earlier reports on gender inclusivity in administrative documents. "44-Acre Mahar Land Controversy: In June, Pune official sought land eviction at Pawar son firm behest" (Nov 9, 2025): An investigative piece on real estate irregularities involving high-profile political families. 2. Education & Campus Life Faculty crisis at SPPU hits research, admin work: 62% of govt-sanctioned posts vacant, over 75% in many depts (Sept 12, 2025): An investigative piece on professor vacancies at Savitribai Phule Pune University. "Maharashtra’s controversial third language policy: Why National Curriculum Framework recommends a third language from Class 6" (July 2): This detailed piece unpacks reasons behind why the state's move to introduce a third language from class 1 was controversial. "Decline in number of schools, teachers in Maharashtra but student enrolment up: Report" (Jan 2025): Analyzing discrepancies in the state's education data despite rising student numbers. 3. Human Rights & Social Issues "Aanchal Mamidawar was brave after her family killed her boyfriend" (Dec 17, 2025): A deeply personal and hard-hitting opinion piece/column on the "crime of love" and honor killings in modern India. "'People disrespect the disabled': Meet the man who has become face of racist attacks on Indians" (Nov 29, 2025): A profile of a Pune resident with severe physical deformities who became the target of global online harassment, highlighting issues of disability and cyber-bullying. Signature Style Soham is known for his civil-liberties lens. His reporting frequently champions the rights of the marginalized—whether it's students fighting for campus democracy, victims of regressive social practices, or residents struggling with crumbling urban infrastructure (as seen in his "Breathless Pune" contributions). He is adept at linking hyper-local Pune issues to larger national conversations about law and liberty. X (Twitter): @SohamShah07 ... Read More

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