National Population Register | 30 Sep 2019

The National Population Register (NPR) updation exercise will be undertaken alongside Census 2021.

• It will be conducted by the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the Home Ministry.
• Only Assam will not be included, given the recently completed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

National Population Register

• Definition:
  
  • It is a list of “usual residents of the country”.
  • A “usual resident of the country” is one who has been residing in a local area for at least the last six months, or intends to stay in a particular location for the next six months.
• Legal Provisions:
  
  • The NPR is being prepared under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
  • It is mandatory for every “usual resident of India” to register in the NPR.
• Background:
  
  • The data for the NPR was first collected in 2010 along with the house listing phase of Census 2011.
  • In 2015, this data was further updated by conducting a door-to-door survey.
  • However, with the use of Aadhaar as the key vehicle for transfer of government benefits in the last few years, the NPR has taken a backseat.
• Scope:
  
  • The NPR exercise is conducted at the local, sub-district, district, state and national levels.
  • The NPR will collect both demographic data and biometric data. Biometric data will be updated through Aadhar details.
    
    • In the 2010 exercise, the RGI had collected only demographic details.
    • In 2015, it updated the data further with the mobile, Aadhaar and ration card numbers of residents.
    • For the 2020 exercise, it has dropped the ration card number but added other categories.
• Advantages:
  
  • It will streamline data of residents across various platforms.
    
    • For instance, it is common to find a different date of birth of a person on different government documents. NPR will help eliminate that.
  • It will help the government formulate its policies better and also aid national security.
  • It will help to target government beneficiaries in a better way and also further cut down paperwork and red tape in a similar manner that Aadhaar has done.
  • It will help in implementing the idea of ‘One Identity Card’ that has been recently floated by the government.
    
    • ‘One Identity Card’ seeks to replace duplicate and siloed documentations of Aadhaar card, voter ID card, banking card, passport, and more.
• Privacy Concern:
  
  • There is no clarity on the mechanism for protection of the vast amount of data that will be collected through NPR.
• NPR and the NRC:
  
  • Unlike the NRC, the NPR is not a citizenship enumeration drive, as it would record even a foreigner staying in a locality for more than six months.
  • With the government insisting that the NRC would be implemented across the country, the NPR has raised anxieties around the idea of citizenship in the country.
    
    • All this is happening in the backdrop of the NRC in Assam which has excluded 19 lakh among the 3.3 crore who had applied.
    • NRC countrywide would only happen on the basis of the upcoming NPR.
    • After a list of residents is created (i.e. NPR), a nationwide NRC could go about verifying the citizens from that list.

Source: IE