Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the first phase of Census 2021 and updating of the National Population Register (NPR) that was to begin on April 1 has been “postponed until further orders”, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, high alert has been declared by the Government of India as well as the States/Union Territories…. Lockdown has also been declared by many State/UT governments,” the MHA said.
On April 1, the Census and the NPR exercise was to be rolled out in Meghalaya, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshwadeep and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area. President Ram Nath Kovind was to be the first one to be enumerated for the Census, followed by Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as all of them reside in the NDMC area that comprises Lutyens