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NEW DELHI: The next census exercise will see data being collected — as was done in the previous exercise — for a national population register which will record persons “usually residing” in India and the process is to be completed by September 2020, according to a notification. Some reports suggested the NPR could be the basis for a national register of Indian citizens (NRIC), an all-India record of people with legal status of citizens.

It can be seen as a version of Assam ’s national register of citizens, though this exercise is unique in terms of the state’s 1985 accord and its history of illegal migration. Sources, however, told TOI that it was not yet clear if the NPR will necessarily lead to a NRIC. While the Citizenship Act, 1955, and citizenship rules provide for putting together NPR and this was done in 2011 census, it was not followed up by an NRIC.

No decision has been taken yet on how to proceed with NPR data for preparation of the NRIC. The NRIC has been considered by several governments, including the previous UPA regime. The UPA tenure had witnessed adispute whether NPR will collect biometric information or this will be done by UIDAI. Initially, states were divided between NPR and Aadhaar till it was decided, following a Supreme Court order, that collection of biometrics will be the task of Aadhaar only.

NPR data was collected alongside the census houselisting exercise in 2011. It was further updated in 2015. Now NPR data will be updated afresh in census 2021, again alongside the houselisting exercise scheduled between April and September, 2020. There will be more fields such as where a person is to declare his nationality, though this is taken at face value by the enumerator.

Additional features of NPR are family linkage, where a person is identified with the household enumerated, and geo-tagging or record of the place of residence. For the purpose of NPR, a usual resident is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more.

