Marriages are made in heaven, registration data move to cloud
Times of India | 3 January 2024
KOLKATA: Marriages are made in heaven but in Bengal they are saved on the 'cloud'. The state has started storing all marriage registration data on the cloud - a network of servers on which data can be stored or managed - necessitating a shutdown of new registrations for four days from January 2.
As part of the ambitious project, by 11 am on Friday, data related to all marriages registered online between December 1, 2018 and January 1, 2024 will be on the cloud. According to registrar general of marriages Diptarka Basu, the digitisation process for all marriages registered offline till November 2018 is already on and these, too, will be moved to the cloud in phases.
The need to go for cloud storage was prompted by slow servers delaying the registration process.
"It often takes a day for the notice to be up on the server. Since the notice is given a month before registration, some couples are not able to register their marriage on their wedding day. Once data are saved on the cloud, such delays will not happen since it has much more space, can store a huge amount of data and has multiple access points that will make the process faster and smoother," said Basu.
Cloud storage will make accessing data easier and faster
Beginning Tuesday, date for all marriages registered online in the state between December 1, 2018 and January 1, 2024 will be saved on the cloud. This week has been chosen for the transfer of data since very few Hindu marriages are registered during the current month of Poush.
The process of putting data on cloud will be completed by 11 am on Friday. All marriages registered thereafter will be on cloud and this will make it easier and faster to access the data and procure marriage certificates.
It will also ease the process of divorce, say lawyers. Since marriage registration files have to be produced in court during divorce proceedings, accessing data often becomes difficult due to server issues. "Once everything is on cloud, there will be no such issue," said Basu.
The state started process of digitizing all marriages from July this year. The earliest records date back to around 1858 and all files thereafter are now stacked in five record rooms - four in Kolkata and the fifth in Murshidabad. These will be scanned and uploaded online within 18 months.
Explore Your Financial Landscape with Personalized Credit Insights.