- The center says
NPR will be updated before September 2020. - NPR is just the register of residents of India used for deciding the various government policies.
- NPR does not need any document proof to validate the information given by the individuals.
The center will update the NPR
On Tuesday, the Union Cabinet has confirmed it has sanctioned about 3,500 crores towards updating the NPR (National Population Register). The procedure will start from April 2020 and will be done before September 2020 in all states of India excepting Assam since the state has already gone through this procedure. The center has published the gazette notice on the upcoming NPR in August.
History of NPR
For the first time in India, NPR was done in the year 2010. Later in 2015, the center updated it around the time when NPR was linked with the Aadhaar. The latest announcement by the center on the updating of NPR comes during the wake of the ongoing controversies on the NRC (National Register of Citizens) and hence most people are confused on NPR and NRC. In fact, some people wonder in what way NPR is different from the census. Here we discuss a few points to understand NPR clearly.
About NPR
NPR, expanded as National Population Register can be described as the regular register of the residents in India. NPR data is collected right from the village panchayat level to the national level. The legislative provision for the NPR is found in the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
Resident of India definition
In relation to NPR, a resident of India can be defined as an individual who resides in the given locality over the past six months and who intends to reside in the same area over the next six months. The law mandates that every citizen of India is registered and a national identity card is issued.
The authority conducting NPR updates
The authority that will update the NPR is the Registrar General and ex-Officio Census Commissioner of India.
What NPR intends to do
NPR seeks to create an identity database of every resident in the country. The database will have details including name, relationship with the household head, father and mother’s names, spouse’s name if married, sex, gender, marital status, place of birth, nationality as declared by the individual, present address, duration of stay in the given address, address of the permanent residence, educational qualification and occupation. The center has confirmed that the information given under the NPR just presents what the person has to say about himself or herself. No supporting documents of proof and bio-metric will be needed for this purpose.
NPR is different from census and NRC
NPR and Census are not the same. NPR will present only the demographic information about every resident. Census is more comprehensive giving details like literacy and education, housing details, economic activity, and amenities owned in addition to man others. Data gathered for census is useful to the government to decide the nationwide growth and the various inputs required for the several policies by the government.
NRC or National Register of Citizens is the database of Indian citizens which will demand proof of residence from the individuals entered in the database, whereas NPR does not. NPR has got nothing to do with citizenship. It is used by the government only to help the government design the different welfare projects.