The home ministry has indefinitely suspended the exercise to update the NPR and collection of data for Census 2021 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

The decision comes on the first day of a 21-day lockdown announced by the central government and amid repeated demands from the opposition to suspend the two exercises which they have often seen with suspicion and alleged that it could be used along with the CAA and the NRC to take away the citizenship of the minorities in India. The government, however, has rejected this fear as baseless on several occasions.

Several states and politicians had also requested for the suspension of the two exercises citing the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the need for channelizing all government efforts in combating it.

According to earlier official release, the two exercises were to be conducted between April 1 and September 30, 2020.

The home ministry had recently said after a conference of the Directors of the Census Operations that the preparations for the two exercises had intensified.

The states which have been opposing the NPR include Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.

However, most of them also said they will cooperate with the house listing phase of the Census.

The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.