NPR 2010 versus NPR 2020
The ruling BJP and the Congress on Thursday engaged in a war of words over their respective versions of the National Population Register (NPR). Under fire for NPR, which many still see as the first stage of an all-india National Register of Citizens (NRC) despite assurances from home minister Amit Shah that the two are not linked, the BJP has pointed to announcements by former Union minister P Chidambaram of the Congress-led UPA regime (2004-14). Here is an explainer on similarities and differences between the two NPRS.
WHAT WAS 2010 NPR?
The 2010 exercise was the first attempt to build a national database of all residents of India, including foreigners. In this, the data of residents was collected on paper and then digitised with 10 finger prints and iris (eye scan) obtained from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), collected for generating Aadhaar numbers. Then, camps were held to show the list of usual residents in a village or a locality in urban areas, where people could make corrections in name, date of birth, or place of birth. After the camps, the local registrars were supposed to submit objections to the names of others on the local population register. These objections were to be disposed of by the revenue officials from village to the district level, who were also authorised to make “appropriate” remarks in the register. This filing of objections happened only in a few places in India. After the exercise, residency identity cards carrying Aadhaar numbers were also to be issued.
WHAT DID NPR 2010 SAY ABOUT NRC?
In a reply to Lok Sabha in May 2010, the UPA government had said that “once NPR is prepared, the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) could be derived from the NPR as a subset after ascertaining the citizenship of each individual as and when required and wherever required.” The NPR 2010 camps were considered as a verification exercise before starting the NRC process.
WHAT IS 2020 NPR?
The 2020 NPR to start from April 1, 2020, will be update of the 2010 NPR, which already has data of 1.17 billion people with biometric linkage of 250 million people. Some additional information will be sought from all residents, including the name and place of birth of the father, mother and spouse of every resident. NPR 2020 will have information on whether a resident was born in India or not. Lying in the declaration has been listed as a crime.