NEW DELHI: Information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday said questions pertaining to date and place of birth of parents in the National Population Register NPR ) could remain while furnishing such details — as made clear previously — will be optional.Responding to questions at a briefing on Cabinet decisions on Wednesday, he said if a person doesn’t share details the questions will be “considered as dropped”. His remarks came a day after consumer affairs minister Ramvilas Paswan said that the query would be dropped from NPR.Responding to a specific question, Javadekar said, “No no...It’s not like that. It will be considered as dropped if someone doesn’t remember the date and place of birth of his/her father and mother and can’t share.”The questions on date and place of birth of parents had triggered fears that the exercise might be a precursor to the preparation of National Register of Citizens (NRC). Paswan told TOI on Wednesday, “There should be no need to show any document so far as the date of birth of the person or his/ her parents are concerned and I feel these won’t be required when information will be collected. Information provided by people must be trusted and you can check them by talking to their neighbours.”Talking to reporters on Monday, Paswan had said even he didn’t know the date of birth of his parents. “Do I cease to become a citizen on that account? I had told the home ministry that these things will cause confusion,” he had said.The minister also said the question on citizenship of a person born in India cannot be raised due to lack of such documentary evidence. “How can anyone’s citizenship be snatched on this ground? The government has reiterated this on several occasions,” Paswan said.