Govt Approves Rollout Of NPR Trial Form Asking Parents' Place Of Birth

The National Population Register (NPR) form used at the trial stage in September 2019, will likely be finalised for NPR as no adverse feedback was received by the authorities from a sample set of respondents. The form seeks details of the “place of birth of father and mother”.

The “pretest” form was used to collect data in 74 districts, and around 30 lakh people responded to it.

Among the details that it sought on 21 parameters were the “place of birth of father and mother, the last place of residence”, as well as Aadhaar (optional), voter ID card, mobile phone and driving licence numbers.

The present NPR consists of a database of 119 crore residents.

“None of the respondents gave adverse feedback. The final form is likely to remain the same,” The Hindu quoted an official as saying.

According to another official, the visit of an enumerator will be informed to the families in advance, so that all the individuals’ documents are available for verification readily.

“If there are 15 members in the family, the enumerators would give them prior notice, so that documents of all are available when the field visit is undertaken. The enumerator will see the documents,” the official said.

According to the NPR training manual, the existing database would be updated after verification of details of all respondents through house-to-house enumeration.

The NRP exercise, which was first conducted in 2010 and then later updated in 2015, collected details on 15 parameters – name of person, relationship to head of household, father’s name, mother’s name, spouse’s name (if married), sex, date of birth, marital status, place of birth, nationality (as declared), present address of usual residence, duration of stay at present address, permanent residential address, occupation/activity and educational qualification.

Along with the decennial Census exercise, the fresh NPR data will be conducted from April- September 2020.

Confusion Over Whether Documents Is Needed For NPR Or Not

The Hindu story says that the existing database would be updated by verifying the details of all respondents through house-to-house enumeration. While on Wednesday, January 2, 2020, the Union Home Ministry said that it is not necessary for any person to submit any documents during the house-to-house survey for updating the National Population Register. All information provided by individuals would be accepted and recorded.

“The line taken by The Hindu story is incorrect, without taking into account the factual position for conducting NPR,” the Ministry spokesperson’s official Twitter handle said.

Following story has appeared in @the_hindu.

The line taken by the story is incorrect, without taking into account the factual position for conducting NPR.

Following is an explanatory thread on the same:https://t.co/jYh5VTReid

1/4

— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) January 1, 2020

It went on to say: “The story incorrectly quotes government officials that ‘respondents to NPR exercise will get time to provide papers’ and ‘families would need to dig out old documents and ensure that such documents are readily available for verification & enumerators would see those documents’.”

You can read The Hindu article here.

Also Read: ‘NPR Data May Or May Not Be Used For Implementing NRC’: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad