The story so far: On February 25, the Bihar Assembly passed a unanimous resolution stating that there is no need for a National Register of Citizens in the State and that the implementation of the National Population Register (NPR) would be done strictly according to the 2010 format. An ally of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar made it clear that the 2020 format of the NPR has several contentious clauses.
What is the National Population Register (NPR)?
The NPR is a database of usual residents in the country who have stayed in a local area for the past six months or more and who intend to remain in the same place for the next six months or more. The NPR is individual and identity specific unlike the Census which only provides information on the status of the residents of India and population swings.
The NPR database was first created in 2010. The electronic database of more than 119 crore usual residents of the country has already been created under the NPR in English as well as the regional languages. The data collection is done under the aegis of the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. The NPR is undertaken under the provisions of The Citizenship Act, 1955 and The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. The NPR was last updated, except in Assam and Meghalaya, in 2015-16.
How is the NPR linked to the National Register of Citizens?
Successive governments have said that the NPR is the mother database for “identity purposes”.
The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 mandates that particulars of “every family and individual” in the NPR would be used for verification