"NPR Is A Census…" Says Maha CM Uddhav Thackeray, Here's How Census Is Different From NPR

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, on Tuesday, February 18, stated that there was no reason for people to fear the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), declaring that the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are two different issues.

The Maharashtra government would take a decision on the National Population of Register (NPR) after reviewing the columns in the NPR forms issued by the Centre.

While addressing the media at Sindhudurg, Thackeray said, "CAA and NRC are different issues. NPR is the third issue. Nobody should fear CAA…. NPR is a census and I will go through columns given in the form. I don't think there will be any problem with it. The census is carried out every ten years."

NPR And Census of India: The Distinction

The Modi Government, on December 24, announced the allocation of funds to the extent of over Rs 8,500 crore for the NPR exercise.

NPR is a register of "usual residents" of the country which is prepared at several levels including local (village/sub-town), subdistrict, district, state, and national. It comes under provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.

A usual resident in this context 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.

The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country which comprises demographics as well as biometric particulars.

No documents are required to be submitted for the NPR, however, provision of the Aadhaar number is mandatory for the registration.

The database would contain demographic details of every usual resident which includes resident name, 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, and educational qualification.

Historically, the data for the NPR was first collected by the then Congress-led UPA government in 2010. In 2015, the register was updated and the biometrics collected through Aadhaar was linked to the NPR.

The NPR exercise which is to be carried out every 10 years, is scheduled to be conducted between April and September 2020 in all states and Union Territories(UTs), except Assam. Whereas, the Census of India, which is also a once-in-ten-years exercise collects information about all residents of India.

It is considered to be the single largest source of a number of statistical information on different characteristics of the people of the country conducted on the basis of the Census Act, 1948.

The Census data aims to collect information to give an overall picture of the status of residents of India and the overall population trends.

This data is not about individuals but rather would serve as the basis for reviewing the country's progress in the past decade, analysing the ongoing government schemes and planning future government actions.

The census provides detailed information on several aspects that includes demography, economic activity, literacy and education, housing and household amenities, urbanization, fertility, mortality, language, religion, and migration, etc.

Information is also collected on sources of potable water, energy, irrigation, method of farming, and houses by the enumerators.

The last census was in 2011, and the next will be done in 2021. According to Home Minister Amit Shah, the census data collection will be carried out in 16 languages and will be conducted through a mobile phone application.

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