All but 2 states set NPR ball rolling, say officials
NEW DELHI: Barring West Bengal and Kerala, all states have reissued notifications for the exercise to update National Population Register (NPR) and communicated the same to the Centre, two officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday. The two states have asked for a “temporary hold” on the exercise while others including Congress-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh have agreed to conduct the exercise, they added.
The officials cited above said West Bengal and Kerala had earlier notified they would participate in the exercise, but they backtracked after the passage of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) last month that has triggered protests across the country. Kerala moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday saying the CAA violates the Constitution’s secular nature.
The opponents of the CAA, which seeks to fast-track the citizenship process for non-muslims refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, insist it is discriminatory as it leaves out the Muslims. They say it could result in the expulsion or detentions of the Muslims if the law is seen in the context of a proposed pan-india National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The government has in the past described NPR, which is a comprehensive biometric database of all “usual residents” in India as opposed to the Census or a database of households, as the first step towards a nationwide NRC. It now maintains that there is no link between the two and that an all-india NRC is not immediately on the anvil.
“We have been informed through our state Census commissioners that both states [Kerala and West Bengal] have asked for a temporary hold. We are hoping that the situation will be resolved soon,” one of the officials cited above said.
On Wednesday, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said her state will not take part in Centre’s meeting the NPR on January 17. “On January 17, the Union government had convened a meeting on NPR. I won’t be going, neither any representative of my government will attend that meeting,” she said.
The NPR database will be updated between April 1 and September 30 along with the house listing phase of Census 2021.
Declaration of mother tongue, sharing parents names, their dates of birth and birthplace are to be declared in NPR if they are living in same household, the officials said. “There are concerns around sharing parents’ birthplaces,” the second official said.