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NEW DELHI: The UPA government, during its second term from 2009 to 2014, not only stated in Parliament that National Population Register (NPR) was a prelude to the creation of National Register of Indian Citizen (NRIC), but also said there will be “social vetting” of “usual resident status” as declared in NPR .

In reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on August 28, 2012, then minister of state for home Jitendra Singh had stated, “The National Population Register is the first step towards the creation of a National Register of Indian Citizens. A resident can be part of this Citizens Register only after thorough verification of her/ his citizenship status”.

A more interesting reply by Singh to a related query in the Lok Sabha came on August 2, 2011, where he detailed how entries in NPR would be subjected to “social vetting” by gram sabhas and ward committees and claims and objections examined by revenue officials like patwari or talati, tehsildars and collectors.

These officials are designated as local registrars, sub-district registrars and district registrars respectively. “....the Local Register of Usual Residents (LRUR) along with aadhaar number would be published in the local areas for inviting objections and claims. The LRUR would also be placed before the gram sabha/ward committee for social vetting,” Singh, who then represented Alwar in the Lok Sabha, had stated.

He added that claims and objections may also be raised by law enforcement agencies or by the registrars suo motu. “In sensitive areas, state/UT governments could take up additional measures for verification and will be free to involve the local police stations or the village chowkidars in the process of verification,” he further stated.

While referring to the “social vetting” process for NPR in reply to a Lok Sabha question on May 4, 2010, then MoS(home) Ajay Maken had confirmed that it had been discussed with all states and UTs, including at the chief minister level.

While NPR exercise was undertaken in 2010 followed by updation in 2015, the registry of usual residents was never published, ruling out any claims and objections. However, the data was shared with various Central government agencies and state governments over time for formulation of targeted entitlement schemes.

Interestingly, Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 do not speak of verification of entries in NPR through a claims and objections process. NPR is supposed to record details of a usual resident as declared, without any need for documents. However, NRIC process — that needs to separately notified — would involve verification of citizenship status of those included in NPR by the local revenue officials, complete with a claims and objections process.

