Won’t implement NPR as people are afraid: Kerala

Says NPR, NRC will vitiate atmosphere, adds it’ll cooperate with Census process

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government on Monday cited a sense of fear among the people while reiterating it will not implement the exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR) in the state even as it will cooperate with the Census operations. “A sense of fear has gripped the people. It is the government’s duty to help people come out of this fear and also maintain the law and order in the state. If the NPR and National Register of Citizens [NRC] are implemented, it will vitiate the atmosphere. That is why the state government took this decision,” a press release from chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office said. It said the NPR will pave way for the NRC’s implementation.

The statement said the state police chief has also given a report that the implementation of the NPR will vitiate the atmosphere. “District collectors have informed the government that it was difficult to carry out Census procedures if mixed with the NPR.”

However, the state would cooperate with the census procedures, it said. The LDF government, which has been on a warpath against the Centre over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), has last month stayed all activities related to update of NPR, considering ‘apprehensions’ of public that it would lead to NRC.

The NPR, which will be updated from April 2020 along with the house listing exercise for the Census, is a comprehensive biometric database of all “usual residents”.

The Centre has in the past described the NPR as the first step towards NRC. It now maintains that there is no link between the two and that an all-India NRC is not immediately on the anvil in the backdrop of protests against the CAA.