Disclosure Of Information For NPR Voluntary: Centre

The Union government is set to carry out the National Population Register (NPR) exercise across the country from April to September, according to media reports. In the midst of nationwide protests against NPR and NRC, the Centre has clarified that providing information for NPR is a purely voluntary exercise.

The Union government described the exercise as a constitutional obligation but stated that disclosure under NPR is not mandatory. There is a penalty of Rs.1000 if information is withheld, as per law, but it was not imposed on previous occasions when the NPR was carried out.

The NPR was first authorised by UPA in 2005, but leaders from the Congress and its allies accuse the NDA government of changing the format. They accuse the Modi-led Central government of turning the NPR into a preliminary exercise for the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The Centre has stated that the NPR is simply a register of the country's usual residents and has information collected 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. The Union government asserts that the aim of the NPR is the creation of a national identity database of all usual residents in the country.

The job of updating NPR is entrusted to the Registrar General and ex-Officio Census Commissioner, India.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan clarified that the government may review the questions on date and place of birth of a respondent's parents from the NPR in view of the demand of several non-BJP and Congress-ruled states and the concerns raised by them.