No verification will be carried out for Indian citizens under NPR: Centre

Amid the ongoing protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and proposed National Population Register (NPR), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday (February 4) said in Lok Sabha that no verification will be carried out for Indian citizens under NPR. The MHA asserted that under NPR no verification will be done to find individuals whose citizenship is doubtful. 

The Centre also clarified that no document will be collected during the NPR updation and it will not be mandatory to provide Aadhaar number during the exercise. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha that the Centre is holding talks with the states having concerns with regard to the preparation of the NPR. he added that NPR exercise will be used to update and collect the demographic and other particulars of each family and individual.

Rai said that the Centre has already prepared an instruction manual for updation of NPR 2020 for enumerators and supervisors and people will be asked to provide information for the NPR to the best of their knowledge and belief. "No document is to be collected during the updation of NPR," he said replying a written question.

Notably, the pan-India NPR exercise will be done along with the house listing phase of the Census 2021 from April 1 to September 30, 2020. "The NPR updation will be undertaken through house to house enumeration for collection of specified particulars relating to each family and individual. The respondent has to provide the information true to the best of his knowledge and belief. Aadhar Number is collected voluntarily," Rai noted.

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According to Rai, NPR will contain details of persons usually residing in a village or rural area or town or ward or demarcated area within a ward in a town or urban area. "The NPR was first prepared in 2010 and updated in 2015. In pursuance of Sub-rule (4) of Rule 3 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, framed under the Citizenship Act,1955, central government decided to prepare and update the population register during April to September, 2020 throughout the country except Assam for collection of information relating to all persons usually residing in village or town," he said.

It is to be noted that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had called NPR a 'dangerous game' and had urged her counterparts in the northeast and non-BJP states to carefully study the NPR form before taking a final call on allowing its implementation in their respective states.