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WHAT IS NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER (NPR)

The Census process and an update of the National Population Register (NPR) across the country are to take place from April 2020 to September 2020, and the new data will be published in February 2021. While the national Census exercise is not unknown to most people, the term National Population Register (NPR) is not so well known. Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions around NPR:
 
What is National Population Register (NPR)
 
Before understanding NPR, we need to know what is a ‘resident’. Any person who has been living in an area or locality for six months or more or intends to live in an area/locality for the next six months at the time of a survey is considered a resident.
 
The NPR is a register of all ‘residents’ of the country, prepared at several levels — local (village/sub-town), subdistrict, district, state and national — according to the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. The objective of the exercise is the create a comprehensive database of residents of the nation including their demographic particulars. The exercise is carried out under the supervision of Registrar General and ex-Officio Census Commissioner, India. Every citizen of India has to be issued a national identity card under the law.
 
What are the details required to be given for NPR?
 
The demographic details of every individual are required for every usual resident — name, relationship to the head of the 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 the present address, permanent residential address, occupation, and educational qualification.
 
The NPR was introduced by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2010. It was updated in 2015 by the Narendra Modi government through a door-to-door survey. The Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Modi, has approves Rs 3,941.35 cr for exercise to update the NPR.
 
What is the relation between NPR and Census?
 
The NPR update is the first phase of the Census 2021 exercise.
 
The census, which is the single largest source of a variety of statistical information on different characteristics of the people of India, is conducted on the basis of the Census Act of 1948. Census 2021 will take into account the findings of the NPR.
 
The Census 2021 will be done in two phases. In the first, the work of house-listing or housing Census will be conducted from April to September 2020. In the second, the enumeration of the population will be done from February 9 to February 28, 2021, with reference moment as 00:00 hours of March 1, 2021.
 
For snow-bound areas in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be October 1, 2020.

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