Busting misread, misinterpreted link of NCR-NPR-CAA! Know here what NPR is and how it is processed

News Bharati    26-Dec-2019
Total Views |

By Priti Naik

New Delhi, December 26: Tick marking each promise made in the manifesto, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has rightfully established its vision for a developed India. After successfully passing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Centre now focuses on National Population Register (NPR) renewal. The National Population Register (NPR) is a government document (census) in which the details of every Indian would be filed. The main aim of the nation-wide exercise is to create a detailed identity data of every "usual resident" of the country. The database will have demographic as well as biometric details of the individuals including name, age, address, profession, education details and more.
 
c_1  H x W: 0 x

It must be noted that under the NPR, a "usual resident" 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 the next six months or more. Under the recently approved NPR process, it becomes mandatory for all the residents of India to register in the NPR. The government has decided to prepare the NPR by September 2020. For the updation process, a census is likely to conducted across all states and UTs from April 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020.

When did NPR start?

The National Population Register (NPR) is nothing new for India. This initiative was started in 2010 under the Manmohan Singh government. Any resident residing in any area in the country for six months or more is required to register with the NPR. According to reports, the data for NPR was first collected in 2010 during the second term of the UPA government.

What is the process of NPR in India?

In India, census is conducted once in every 10 years. The last census was done in 2011 and the next one will be conducted in 2021. For the upcoming census, the exercise is expected to begin in September 2020 starting with the hilly areas including Jammu and Kashmir followed by Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

A field work for house-to-house enumeration throughout the country will be done except Assam. The door-to-door survey will be taken up to all persons who are usually residing within the jurisdiction of local registrar shall be undertaken between April to September 2020.

How is NPR Prepared?

NPR, a register of usual residents of the country is being prepared 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.

Creating unwanted chaos and misleading the nation once again, the opposition parties have come out claiming that NPR is the first step towards a nationwide exercise to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The motive of the NPR is similar to that of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues Aadhaar cards.

Dispelling all doubts, Amit Shah said that the criticism of opposition parties over linking NRC with the NPR was driven by political motives as a similar exercise had been carried out by previous governments as well. The union cabinet approved funding for the Census and the National Population Register (NPR), to be conducted simultaneously next year. The Cabinet set aside ₹8,754.23 crore for the 2021 Census the world’s largest head-count and ₹3,941.35 crore for the NPR, which was started in 2010 and last updated in 2015.

 

Shah said the CAA also does not have a provision to take away the citizenship of any individual. It is an Act to give citizenship instead. People want to create a fear of NPR because some people have understood CAA. People are being misled. Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that there will be no NRC across the country, Shah in line with the PM said, “There is no need to debate this (pan-India NRC) as there is no discussion on it right now, PM Modi was right, there is no discussion on it yet either in the Cabinet or Parliament. The party manifesto is in its own place and when it does happen, it cannot be done in a hidden way. Everyone will know when it happens."

NPR NCR CAA Census Population