What is NPR in India: Introduction to NPR

Union Cabinet on Tuesday (24 December) announced that it has allocated around Rs 3,900 crores for updating the National Population Register (NPR) which is linked to the Census. The process shall start from April 2020 and will be completed by September 2020. The first NPR data was collected in 2010 and then updated in 2015.

What is NPR?

NPR full form is ‘National Population Register’.

The National Population Register (NPR) is a register of usual residents of the country. It is being prepared by collecting information at the local (village/sub-town), sub-district, 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.

Who is Usual Resident of India

‘Usual resident’ is defined for the purposes of NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who plans to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.

What Information will be Collected under NPR?

The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain following demographic details such as:

• 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
• Educational qualification

Present Status of NPR

Update: Census Houselisting phase and National Population Register (NPR) updation have been postponed until further orders, after 21-days lockdown declared by PM Narendra Modi to combat the coronavirus pandemic in India. Both were scheduled to be conducted simultaneously between April 1 and September 30 across the country.

The data for the National Population Register was first collected in 2010 along with the houselisting phase of Census of India 2011. This data was updated by conducting door to door survey during 2015. Digitization of updated information has been completed. It has now been decided to update the census houselisting phase 2021 as well as the National Population Register (NPR) during April to September 2020 in all states/union territories except Assam. A gazette notification to this effect has already been published by the Central Government.