A recent decision by the government has enabled the district development committees, too, to register vital statistics like births and deaths, a function so far performed only by the village development committees (VDCs). The municipalities take care of this problem in urban areas. The local development ministry has instructed the DDCs to send a circular to all VDCs and ask them why they failed to provide certificates concerning vital statistics. It has also told the VDCs to provide the information to the district security committees. This step appears well considered, as it has taken into account the security situation of the country and has now made it possible for the people to get the certificates of such events as births, deaths, marriages from the district headquarters. This means that people from the villages would have to travel all the way to the district headquarters to obtain a certificate, but this is much better than not getting the certificate at all.

In many villages, there are no functioning VDC offices, as their buildings have been destroyed or their office-bearers dispatched or displaced as a result of the conflict. If no alternative arrangements had been made, many people would still remain deprived of this important service, which is necessary for them to transact some of their vital business in life. Already, many villagers have been unable to obtain these certificates because of the insurgency, thus affecting their ordinary business. Vital statistics registration has become increasingly important to the people, since, for example, without a death certificate they cannot have property transferred from the departed father to his heirs. Such registration is, however, a relatively recent phenomenon in Nepal, started with the establishment of a separate department following the passage of a law in 2033 BS.

But the present step also reflects the state of security in much of the country. Birth-death registration is only one of the numerous services the State has to provide to the citizens. There are other areas where the people in the grip of the insurgency need help. For example, many schools in the villages have been closed down because of the conflict. Other government offices providing important services in many villages have also shifted to the district headquarters, or even discontinued services. It is not practicable for the villagers to send their children to the district headquarters to attend school. Indeed, the government has promised to ‘provide relief’ and ‘improve’ the delivery of services to the people. But the Nepalis, having lived with empty pledges and assurances for decades, are unlikely to take anything at face value nowadays. So the only way to win their hearts is to deliver.