The Big Picture : NPR - National Population Register

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to update the National Population Register (NPR), which is linked to the Census. The exercise will cost Rs 8,500 crore, the government said. The Census Commission has said the objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every "usual resident" of the country. The database will have demographic details. A "usual resident", for the NPR, is a person who has lived in an area for at least six months or more, or a person who intends to live in an area for the next six months or more. It is mandatory for every "usual resident" of India to register in the NPR. The NPR, since it is linked to the Census, is seen as the first step towards a nationwide exercise to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Though an NPR doesn't necessarily mean it's guaranteed there will be an NRC, it clears the path for a nationwide citizens' list. This is seen as one of the reasons why some states like West Bengal and Kerala, which are opposed to the NRC, have stopped work on the NPR. On this edition of The Big Picture we will take a closer look at the National Population Register.

Anchor: Frank
Guest- P K Malhotra, Former Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, GoI

K V Prasad, Sr. Associate Editor, The Tribune

J Sai Deepak, Advocate, Supreme Court

[ad]

Sai Deepak who are you man?
It took 50 minutes to understand your 15 minutes speech..So depth and Inclusive

[thamizheniyan]

frank and sai deepak combo always top level

[satishkhurd]

J Sai Deepak 💥 get someone reach out his views to govt. Absolutely brilliant.

[shashiketan]

*142. NPR: National Population Register*
• The National Population Register exercise will be held between April and September 2020 in all states and Union Territories except Assam under the provisions of The Citizenship Act, 1955 & Citizenship (registration of citizens & issue of National identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
• NPR: usual resident = (Citizens + Non-Citizens) defined as person who resided in a local area for past 6 months or intends to reside for next 6 months.
• What data to be collected? Demographic + biometric
• The database under the NPR will be maintained by the Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The data for the NPR was first collected in 2010 along with the house listing phase of Census 2011 which was further updated in 2015.
• NPR’s objective is to create “a comprehensive identity database in the country with full identification and other details by registering each and every usual resident in the country"

Census:
• Single source of a variety of statistical information on different characteristics of the people of India conducted on the basis of the Census Act enacted in 1948.
• Procedure: House listing & enumerating.
• Provides detailed and authentic information on demography, economic activity, literacy and education, housing and household amenities, urbanization, fertility and mortality, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, language, religion, migration, disability besides others

Benefits:
• NPR - Identifying beneficiaries.
• Data would be put for use of all stake holders and users including Ministries, Departments, State Governments, research organizations.
• Census data is a powerful tool for public policy when combined with other administrative or survey data.
• Direct as well as indirect employment generation across India

Concern:
• NPR as a first step to NRC in India – objection by few.
• Cost: 3.3Cr in Assam – but can’t be mercantile on national security. Sovereign state has right to know who lives in their state.
• Data will be with the government – privacy concerns.
• Duplicity of efforts – Aadhar & NPR?
• Noncooperation by few states is a breach of federal structure as citizenship falls in List 1 of Schedule 7 hence states are bound to follow.

[dikshita]

Frank sir you should do a separate show with sai deepak sir....

[hangerasika]

The best channel ever seen..no 1 amongst the other.. thanks RSTV..More objectivity !!

[shishirs]

Lol 100 crore + people handed their every record.. including Retina scan..when govt asked for AADHAR by congress.. Now same people are on streets protesting..

[suyogyamishra]

J Sai Deepak is a mobile encychlopedia

[navalnatrajannegi]

Govt work like Machine 💪

Syllabus increased too much 🤒😁

[gautamgunjan]

Expected Satya Prakash sir.

He is so precise n fluid.

[Ashish-jhep]

Hi Frank,
A debate needs to have two sides. Hoping for a balanced panel to better understand the deeper issues regarding key subjects on this channel.
Thanks

[aishwaryajaiswal]

J sai Deepak sir great respect for .. learned a lot from u n gained ample amount of clarity..thank u so much sir..ur m favourite..

[kartiksood]

One thing is for certain that J Sai Deepak is a strong supporter of the exercise of the nation wide NRC as he's the only one who is talking about a prospective NRC even though the Home Minister has repeatedly announced that there's no plan to undertake the same.

[ajaxaj]

this topic could have been scheduled for tmrw. Amit Shah in his interview today mentioned that NPC has nothing to do with NRC. A person should submit a proof that he/she is Indian citizen during NRC survey. In NPR details are collected at face value and no documents are taken.

[JBC]

Every time I amazed to see Sai Deepak, he is having clear and legal understanding about any given issue....he will have great future ;):)

[pramodk]

Merry Christmas to Frank and other members of the team

[dhirajbankar]

My one point.
If NPR is used for formulating better policies and targeted action plans, then why aadhar cards have unnecessarily been issued???
The point is why this duplicity of the same kind of exercise which have already done before for the same purpose??Aadhar card have been issued to almost all persons in India and their biometric data is with govt.If aadhar can be issued to an illegal immigrant..then what is the guarantee that NPR or NRC will be foolproof???We have already seen that some genuine people rejected and some illegal people got included in NRC in assam.Moreover once you prepared a final NRC, can you guarantee that no single illegal person will stay further in India or enter in india??
I think for 130 crore population, it will be very very difficult.Also given the present state of bureaucratic machinary which issues document to people, one can imagine how things can turn out to be.
Anyway..tnx rstv

[sudipbanerjee]

Why do we need to carry out NPR and Census independently?
I understand NPR collects the data about anyone living or intends to live in India (citizens + non-citizens) and Census is only for the citizens. I also understand that while conducting NPR, government doesn't need any ID proof and the data is collected on the face value, which is not the case in Census.
But can we not merge these two exercises?
Anyone producing the ID proof will be asked the detailed questionnaire of Census. Anyone (obviously non-citizens), who is living / intends to live in the country but fails to provide the ID proof, can be asked general questionnaire of NPR and collected in a seperate list.

[snr]

Thanq Sai Deepak Sir for yr interpretation of law n your clarity to explain the real position tp laymen like me..

[Rahulpriye]

please always invite j.sai deepak.he has a wide knowledge of law.merry Christmas frank sir