Cabinet clears NPR

New Delhi: The Union government on Tuesday approved nearly Rs 12,700 crore for carrying out the Census 2021 and the National Population Register (NPR), and made it clear that NPR has no relation with the contentious National Register of Citizens amidst stiff opposition to the NRC.

However, Union Home Ministry officials said "at present there is no proposal to create NRC in the country based on the NPR data".

The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared the proposal for conducting the Census 2021 at a cost of Rs 8,754.23 crore and updating the NPR at a cost of Rs 3,941.35 crore.

Briefing reporters, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar asserted that the NPR, to be carried out along with the first phase of the Census 2021 from April to September next year, has no relation with the NRC.

"There is no relation (of NPR) with the NRC (dur-dur tak NRC se koi sambhand nahi hain)," he said.

Javadekar said while updating the NPR, the government will not seek any document from the people nor any biometric data.

"Whatever the citizens will give, we will accept in the form of self-declaration," he added. However, according to the official website of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner "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".

The data will be used for schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ujjvala and Saubhagya for identifying the intended beneficiaries.

Union Home Ministry officials explained uses and benefits of the NPR in various social welfare scheme and national security. They also maintained that it will not be used "at present" for the NRC.

The decennial census is the largest single source of collecting a variety of statistical information on different characteristics of the people of India, conducted under the Census Act 1948.

The census covers detailed and authentic information on demography, economic activity, literacy and education, housing and household amenities, urbanisation, fertility and mortality, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, language, religion, migration, disability besides others.

The next decennial Census is due in 2021 and would be conducted in two phases: house listing or housing census from April to September, 2020, and population enumeration from February 9 to February 28, 2021. The NPR will be updated along with the first phase of the Census.

A total of 30 lakh field functionaries will complete this gigantic exercise of national importance, up from 28 lakh in 2011, an official release said, adding use of mobile app for data collection and the central portal for monitoring purpose will ensure early release of census data with improved quality.

The Supreme Court-mandated NRC was updated in Assam to identify the bona fide Indian citizens who or his/ her ancestors were residents of the state before March 1971.

What is NPR?

Purpose of NPR?

The objective of NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. Biometric as well as demographic details of the residents would be included in the NPR.

NPR and Aadhaar same?

Not really. However, both Aadhaar and NPR has one goal - to improve the implementation of government policies. The Registrar General of India would ask the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to verify the biometrics of citizens to include in the NPR. According to reports, people with Aadhaar are not required to give biometrics for NPR.

How to access NPR data?

For now, NPR can be accessed on the government's National Population Register portal.