NPR Update To Start On April 1: President Kovind, V-P Naidu, PM Modi To Be Registered First

The process of updating the National Population Register (NPR) will begin from April 1 in the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) area. President Ram Nath Kovind will be the first resident to be enumerated.

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be enrolled on the same day, The Times of India reported.

The office of the Registrar General of India (RGI), in a bid to make the first day of updating "grander" and to send out a "positive and reassuring message" to the citizens, has written to all three leaders who reside in the NDMC area, asking for a convenient time to visit for the NPR update.

The enumeration process of the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister is likely to be done in the presence of the Home Minister, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India and the director of census operations, Delhi, an officer with knowledge about the matter told the newspaper.

NPR is a list of 'usual residents' in the country. A 'usual 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.

NPR, which includes both Indian and foreign citizens, aims to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.

There have been nationwide protests against the NPR, contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register Citizens (NRC) since December last year. The NPR is believed to lay the groundwork for the implementation of NRC. The combination of NRC and CAA is being seen as a threat to Muslims in the country.

States like Kerala and West Bengal are against the NPR and have halted the NPR process. Several Congress-ruled states have asked why the Centre has added certain new fields – including date and place of parents' birth – to the questionnaire.

Also Read: What Is The National Population Register (NPR)?