Amid CAA Unrest, Centre Approves Funds of Over Rs 3,900 Cr for NPR

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday, 24 December approved the proposal for a National Population Register (NPR), amid nationwide unrest over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), reports said.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday, 24 December, approved funds to the tune of over Rs 3,941.35 crore to update the National Population Register (NPR), officials have said, according to PTI.

Announcing the NPR amid protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Union Minister Prakash Javadekar sought to dismiss fears and said it is a "national population register, not a citizen register," according to ANI.

“It is self declaration, no document, biometrics, etc required for it,” Javadekar said.

“Currently, there is no proposal to conduct a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) on the basis of data collected through the National Population Register (NPR),” Javadekar added.

However, the NPR is seen as the first step towards implementation of the contentious NRC, since it is linked to the Census.

The NPR is a list of “usual residents” of the country.

A “usual resident” is defined, for the purposes of NPR, as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more, or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more.

The data for the NPR was collected in 2010 along with the houselisting phase of Census of India 2011.

The updation of this data was done during 2015 by conducting door to door survey. The digitisation of the updated information has been completed.

It has been decided to update the National Population Register along with the Houselisting phase of Census 2021 during April to September 2020 in all the states/UTs except Assam, according to the website of the Office of the Registrar General, and Census Commissioner.

A gazette notification to this effect was issued in August this year.

‘NPR Is to Create a Comprehensive Identity Database’

The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.

Javadekar said that the exercise will help in ensuring that the welfare schemes reach the correct beneficiaries.

In pursuance of sub-rule(4) of rule 3 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, the central government hereby decides to prepare and update the Population Register....

“...and the field work for house to house enumeration throughout the country except Assam for collection of information relating to all persons who are usually residing within the jurisdiction of Local Registrar shall be undertaken between the 1st day of April, 2020 to 30th September, 2020,” said the notification.

The NPR will be prepared at the local (village/sub-Town), sub-district, district, state and national level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.

It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.

(With inputs from PTI & ANI.)