The exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR) and the first phase of the Census 2021 will not be held as scheduled, due to the 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said on Tuesday, 24 March.
Both the exercises were supposed to be carried out from 1 April to 20 September 2020.
However, due to the prevailing situation, the NPR and Census exercises have been deferred till further orders, a senior home ministry official said.
The Prime Minister has announced a 21-day lockdown across the country, from Tuesday night due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
A press note released by the ministry read that in view of the lockdown, “the first phase of Census 2021 and updation of NPR, which was to begin on various dates decided by the States/UT governments beginning 1 April, 2020 and various related field activities are postponed until further orders.”
The Census 2021 was scheduled to be held in two phases, during April-September 2020 and then, in February 2021.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)