the goan I network
PANAJI
The State government has approved setting aside a period of 45 days between April 16 and May 30 to conduct the first phase of Census and simultaneous updation of National Population Register (NPR) even as protests across the nation against NPR, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Registry for Citizens (NRC) continue unabated.
The exercise, according to the notification published in the official gazette and issued by Director of Planning and Statistics, Dr Y Durga Prasad, will be carried out over a period of 45 days from April 16 to May 30.
Interestingly, NPR has been linked to the 2021 Census although analysts and legal experts have termed it a prelude to the controversial NRC whose implementation in Assam has left thousands without an identity and many languishing in detention centres. “The Government of Goa hereby approves to set aside the 45 days period for conducting the 1st phase of Census of India 2021 i.e. house-listing and housing census and simultaneous updation of National Population Register (NPR) from 16th April 2020 (Thursday) to 30th May, 2020 (Saturday) (45 days),” reads the notification issued by Dr Durga Prasad, who also officiates as ex-officio Joint Secretary (Planning).
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is on record that the NPR process will not require citizens to produce documents as evidence for particulars they provide.
Also according to the government, the objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.
The database would contain demographic particulars such as a person’s name, relationship to head of the household, father’s name, mother’s name, spouse’s name (if married), sex, date of birth, marital status, place of birth, nationality (as declared), present address of usual residence, duration of stay at present address, permanent residential address, occupation, and educational qualification.
But although biometrics and documents will not be collected at the time of NPR updation, there seems a dearth of clarity on the issue. Documents of the office of the Registrar General of India (ORGI) state that 60 crore
Aadhaar numbers, which possess biometric details, have already been collected and seeded with the NPR.
Meanwhile, news portal “The Wire” on Thursday night reported that the ORGI, which functions under the aegis of the Home Ministry, has categorically stated that Aadhaar numbers which are not already in the existing NPR database “will also be collected along with various other items” enumerators during NPR updation.
According to a file noting at the ORGI dated July 19, 2019, “While updating the NPR, the Aadhaar number of all the individuals whose Aadhaar number is not available in the NPR database will also be collected along with various other items.” the report by ‘The Wire’ said.
The “additional items” to be collected, as per the July 2019 file noting, include the following: Date and place of birth of birth of parents, place of last residence, passport number if Indian passport holder, Aadhaar number, mobile number, voter ID card number, PAN number and driving licence number.
The Central government, however, has been consistently denying that such details will be collected at the time of NPR updation.
