Pan-India population register by Sept 2020

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 3

The government has decided to prepare a National Population Register (NPR) by September 2020 to lay the foundation for rolling out a citizens’ register across the country.  Noting that the NPR would be “a list of usual residents in the country”, a senior official in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said: “Once the NPR is completed and published, it is expected to be the basis for preparing the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC), a pan-India version of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC).”

For the purpose of NPR, a normal resident is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more. “In pursuance of sub-rule (4) of Rule 3 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, the Centre hereby decides to prepare and update the Population Register...

“... And the field work for house-to-house enumeration throughout the country except Assam for collection of information relating to all persons who are usually residing within the jurisdiction of local registrar shall be undertaken between April 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020,” said Vivek Joshi, Registrar General of Citizen Registration and Census Commissioner. The NPR 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.

The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country and the database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars, the official said, adding that it is mandatory for every usual resident to register in the NPR.

The move comes over a month after a related announcement by President Ram Nath Kovind to Parliament on June 20 after formation of 17th Lok Sabha. 

About the NPR

• It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the National Population Register 
• A usual resident is a person who has resided in a local area for six months or one intending to reside for the next six months or more
• Once done, it is expected to be the basis for preparing the National Register of Indian Citizens