To incorporate the changes due to birth, death and migration, there is a need to update the National Population Register (NPR) again, according to the 2020-21 annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) released on Wednesday.
The report read that the government decided to update the NPR database in the entire country except the state of Assam along with the Houselisting Phase of Census 2021, from April to September 2020, as per the convenience of the State/UT governments.
Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the work of NPR updation and other related field activities have been postponed until further orders.
The government prepared an NPR of all the 'usual residents' in the country in 2010 by collecting specific information about each resident. The NPR is prepared under various provisions of the Citizenship Rules, 2003, framed under the Citizenship Act, 1955, the report read.
For updating the NPR database, a three-pronged approach would be adopted which includes self-updating wherein it is proposed to allow residents to update their own data fields after following some authentication protocols on a web portal. The approach also includes updating NPR data in paper format and mobile mode.
A pre-test on NPR update was undertaken in the selected areas of all the states/UTs except Assam along with the pre-test of Census. The demographic and other particulars of each family and individual are to be collected/updated during the updation exercise of NPR. No documents or biometrics would be collected during the updation, the report read.
The Union government has already approved the expenditure of Rs 3941.35 crore for updation of NPR.
In 2015, a few fields such as name, gender, date and place of birth, place of residence and father's and mother's name were updated and Aadhaar, Mobile and Ration card numbers were collected.
Notably, protests were witnessed against the National Population Register (NPR), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in different parts of the country in 2019.
( With inputs from ANI )
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