AURANGABAD: What's in a name? Well a lot. A 29-year-old mathematics teacher from Chincholi village of Umarga in Osmanabad district had to struggle for over three months to get his youngest son's birth certificate only because he had named the boy Pantpradhan, which means prime minister.
Dattatray Choudhari's wife Kavita gave birth to a boy at Boramani in Solapur on September 10. He decided to name the newborn Pantpradhan, because he wants his children to grow up and take up professions other than medicine or engineering.
"People want their children to grow up and become doctors, engineers and opt for the best professions. I want my children to grow up and take up an altogether different profession. Thus, we named him Pantpradhan," said Choudhari, son of a farmer.
Considering Pantpradhan is a constitutional designation, authorities supposed to issue the boy's birth certificate were in a fix.
It was because of Choudhari's inexhaustible belief in what he was seeking, the certificate was issued on Thursday. The birth certificate reads Pantpradhan Dattatray Choudhari.
Choudhari said, "My elder son was born on June 19, 2020, and we named him Rashtrapati (president). At the time of getting his birth certificate, I did not face any problem. But when I named my second son Pantpradhan, I had to make innumerable rounds of the primary health centre."
Starting 2020, a child born in a state-run hospital is issued a birth certificate from the respective hospital. In case of babies born in private hospitals, the certificates are issued by the respective civic body.
Boramani primary health centre's medical officer, Dr Iranna Rathod, told TOI, "In my entire service, I never came across anyone naming his child after a constitutional post. It left us in a dilemma."
Dr Rathod said medical staffers had initially tried to convince the man to consider changing the name of the boy, but in vain."Left with no option, we sent a letter to our district authorities, who in turn contacted the divisional health authorities. They further got in touch with the registrar of births and deaths to clarify on the issue," he said.
It was after getting a clarification that under The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, there is no provision to stop someone from opting this name, the village health authorities issued the birth certificate.
Choudhari said after his son was named Pantpradhan and particularly after his naamkaran ceremony, the family became famous overnight. "We became a talking point for everyone in the village, but the only people who had problems with the name were the health officials, who were reluctant to issue the birth certificate," said the now happy father.
