All that you need to know about National Population Register

The Union Cabinet today approved the updation of the National Population Register (NPR) with no requirement by people to submit any document or biometrics to prove their identity, and conducting of census of India 2021. Hours after the decision, Home Minister Amit Shah categorically stated that there is no link between the National Population Register and the Nation Register of Citizens (hereafter NRC). The clarification assumes importance in the wake of countrywide agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act and alleged fear of marginalisation of the minorities with the implementation of NRC.

According to sources, this is how the government has responded to the decision on NPR taken by the cabinet.

What is NPR?

The NPR is a register of residents of the country, prepared at the local (village/sub-town), sub-district, district, state and national level under the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, which was subsequently updated in 2015 by seeding it with Aadhaar.

What will it do?
NPR is a register of usual residents linked with location particulars such as village/town, sub-district, district and state NPR will help in improving delivery mechanism of benefits under various government Schemes/ programmes. NPR data can be used for transparent and efficient delivery of social benefits by linking it with various beneficiary oriented Government scheme.

How did NPR start?
Under NDA Government headed by Vajpayee Government, A Group of Ministers (GoM) was set up in 2000 to consider the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee (KRC), which had recommended that there should be compulsory registration of citizens and non-citizens living in India because of illegal immigration. All the citizens should be given a Multi-Purpose National Identity Card (MPNIC) and non-citizens should be issued identity cards of a different colour and design. The recommendations of GoM were accepted by the Government in 2001.

Past Attempts
2003-2009:(NDA + UPA Govt)- A Pilot Project on Multi Purpose National Identity Card was implemented in selected border areas of the country. This was undertaken to understand the complexities involved in preparation of the population register and subsequently citizen register in the pilot areas and to test check feasibility of the processes, choice of technology and the methodology laid-down.

National Roll out (UPA Government) October 2006 - Based on the experience of the pilot project, a proposal was made out and presented to the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) in October, 2006 for the National Roll Out of MNIC. The proposal envisaged upscaling of the pilot project at the national level.