File photo used for representational purpose

BENGALURU: The eighth population census process along with the controversial National Population Register ( NPR ) will begin in Karnataka in April.

In the first phase, officials will take a census of houses — also known as house-listing phase — between April 15 and May 29. Revenue minister R Ashoka on Wednesday said all preparations are on and training for enumerators has already begun

Officials will visit houses twice — once for the house listing and again for the population census. The NPR exercise will be conducted during the first visit. BBMP commissioner BH Anil Kumar confirmed the exercise will go hand-in-hand with the population census that will begin later this year.

There is widespread opposition to NPR and the governments in West Bengal and Kerala have said they will not implement NPR. They are protesting against the Centre’s move to seek details of date and place of birth of both parents of a citizen. Congress-ruled states have also decided to avoid NPR, as it is alleged that it is being done to lay the ground for NRC.

Meanwhile, for the first time, house-listing process will go paperless with the Union government developing a mobile application for people to upload details of properties. Besides this, enumerators will also visit each household to collect data.

The population census in India, carried out once every 10 years, involves two phases — house-listing and population enumeration. In the house-listing phase, enumerators will identify buildings and structures, including residential and non-residential, and list them systematically. The population enumeration will be held next year.

