Bengal to skip Home Ministry meet on Census & NPR

New Delhi: The representatives of all states and Union territories, except West Bengal, are expected to attend the Friday’s meeting convened by the Union home ministry to discuss the modalities for the census and the National Population Register (NPR).

Minister of state for home Nityanand Rai will chair the meeting, which will be attended by Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla and Chief Secretaries and census directors of states and UTs. The meeting will discuss the modalities for the house-listing phase of the census and NPR, to be carried out from April 1 to September 30, a home ministry official said.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had declared on Wednesday that state representatives will not attend the meeting Officials said the objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive database of every usual resident.