NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER

What is NPR:

It is a list of “usual inhabitants of the country,” according to the National Population Register.
A “usual resident of the country” is someone who has lived in a given place for at least the previous six months or plans to stay there for the future six months.

The Citizenship Act of 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules of 2003 are being used to create the NPR.
Every “usual resident of India” is required to register with the NPR.

The NPR data was first gathered in 2010 as part of Census 2011’s house listing phase.
This information was updated in 2015 by completing a door-to-door survey.
However, in recent years, the NPR has taken a backseat as Aadhaar has become the primary mechanism for transferring government benefits.
The NPR process takes place at the local, sub-district, district, state, and national levels.
Both demographic and biometric data will be collected by the NPR. Aadhar details will be used to update biometric data.
The RGI has only collected demographic information in the 2010 exercise.
It updated the data in 2015 by adding residents’ cellphone, Aadhaar, and ration card numbers.
The ration card number has been removed from the 2020 exercise, while additional categories have been added.

It will consolidate resident data across several platforms.
For example, it is usual to find a person’s date of birth on many official documents. NPR will assist in the elimination of this problem.
It will aid national security while also assisting the government in better formulating policies.
In the same way that Aadhaar has helped to better target government recipients, it will also assist to reduce paperwork and red tape.
It will aid in the implementation of the government’s recent proposal for a “One Identity Card.”
The ‘One Identity Card’ aims to replace duplicate and siloed Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards, banking cards, passports, and other documents.

There is no clarification on how the massive amount of data that will be collected through NPR will be protected.

The NPR, unlike the NRC, is not a citizenship enumeration campaign, as it would record any foreigner who stayed in a community for more than six months.
The NPR has sparked concerns over citizenship in the country, with the government pushing that the NRC be applied across the country.
All of this is taking place against the backdrop of Assam’s NRC, which has rejected 19 lakh of the 3.3 million people who applied.
Only on the basis of the impending NPR would the NRC be conducted across the country.
Following the creation of a list of residents (i.e. NPR), a national NRC might go about confirming the citizens on that list.

Source: THE HINDU.