Fact Check: No, Centre Did Not Allocate ₹8,500 Crores For NPR, But ₹3941 Crore

Reports stating that ₹8,500 crores have been allocated to update the National Population Register (NPR) have gone viral on several social media platforms.

The NPR is a register of the residents of the country. It contains information collected at the local (village/sub-town), subdistrict, 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. Ever since the news broke, netizens have been widely sharing this information. Tweets condemning the allocation has been circulated all over the internet.

The centre is falling short of funds to transfer to the State governments for GST.
Why this hurry to give Rs 8,754 cr to this Population register when the country is already in so much pain? https://t.co/1VYASvqfT3

— Faye DSouza (@fayedsouza) December 24, 2019

Till recently Centrals Govt didn’t had enough money to give to states as per their GST commitment . But now all of a sudden Govt has 8500 crore for #NPR ?? https://t.co/ztg0tJa2Im

— Sadaf Sayeed ���� (@Sadafsayeed) December 25, 2019

Dr @Swamy39 ji

Cabinet Approves National Population Register Updation Before 2021 Census, Clears Rs 8,500 Crore For Exercise https://t.co/3ieR7l1c9l via @swarajyamag

— Ashwin (@Ashwinkiing) December 24, 2019

8500 crore budget approved for NPR while 3500 crore deducted from eduction budget. Kash hamara PM chaiwale ki jagah padha likha hota. smh#NPRisNRC #CAAProtests #Budget2020

— Akshay Kokde (@AkshayKokde) December 24, 2019

However, the claim is false. The truth is that ₹8500 is not the correct amount allocated for updating the National population Register (NPR).

The Cabinet has approved an expenditure of ₹8,754.23 crores for the exercise of the Census of India 2021 and ₹3,941.35 crore for updating the National Population Register.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the updating of the National Population Register (NPR) and allocated a fund of ₹3,941.35 crores for it.

At a regular press briefing, Javadekar said NPR has been accepted by all states already. “It is nothing new. This has to happen every three years. Anyone who stays in India will be counted in NPR,” Financial Express quoted Prakash Javadekar as saying. “No proof or document is required, only information is needed. We trust the public,” he added.

Thus, we can conclude that the actual amount allocated for updating NPR is ₹3,941.35 crores, ₹8754.23 crores have been allocated for the Census of India 2021.

Creating or sharing fake news is never justified. We have a responsibility to verify everything that we post on the internet. To ensure that our national debate is healthy and well-informed, each and every one of us has a responsibility of treating what we read with a pinch of salt, a spoonful of doubt, and a flood of research.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at [email protected]

Also read: Did PM Modi Lie About NRC, Detention Centres In His Speech At Ramlila?