‘No documentation, proof or biometric required’, says Govt giving green signal to NPR updation

New Delhi, December 24: Paving out a progressive path, leaving no stones unturned the Modi led NDA government is moving ahead speedily bringing in new avenues of development. Amid the protest at some places continue over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the National Population of Register (NPR). The NPR which is an identity database of all the citizens of the country and is created through a census that takes place once in every ten years will now be updated.

 

Importantly, the NPR has nothing to do with the CAA or NRC as it is just a database of the citizens and is updated every decade and does not provide or take anyone's citizenship. The process will begin from April 1, 2020. Cabinet has approved expenditure of Rs. 8,754.23 crore for the exercise of Census of India 2021 and Rs. 3,941.35 crore for updation of National Population Register (NPR).

 

Addressing the press briefing, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the process will not require people to submit any kind of documents, proof, or biometric. An application has been developed for the purpose and the information declared by people on the app will be considered for the register.

What is NPR?

Prepared under the Citizenship Act, 1955, the NPR contains details of people living in an area. It is prepared on local, state, and national level. As per the law, a 'usual resident' for the NPR is a person who has lived in an area for at least six months or more or a person who intends to live in an area for six months or more. Every citizen of the country must register in the NPR.

The NPR exercise will be carried out between April and September 2020 in all states and UTs, except Assam, along with the house listing phase of the census exercise. Assam has been excluded because the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise has already been conducted in the state.