Census, NPR in state likely to be in mid-may and June

JAIPUR: The Census and updation of the National Population Register (NPR), the two simultaneous exercises, are likely to be conducted from May 16 to June 30 in Rajasthan, government officials said.

The Directorate of Census Operations, Rajasthan, has worked on the dates, which would be finalised in coordination with the state government.

A senior official privy to the development on condition of anonymity confirmed the dates. The official said the census will be conducted in 45 days. The proposed time period has been suggested looking at the school holidays and availability of teachers, as a majority of the census work is conducted by the education department employees, especially teachers, he said.

The NPR is a register of all usual residents, defined as a person staying at a particular place for six months, of India. It is being prepared at the local (village/ sub-town), sub-district, district, state and national level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of

National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. In 2020 NPR, the government for the first time would be seeking information on one’s mother tongue and birth dates and places of one’s parents. Although no documents are needed for NPR, the enumerator may ask for copies of Aadhaar and driving license.

Under house listing, information on housing stock and its condition collected during each census reveals condition of living of the people. The Census also helps to understand the socio-economic conditions of the country and the impact of different government schemes.

Though the Congress and other Opposition parties at the Centre claim that National Register of Citizen (NRC) and NPR are related, the Central government has repeatedly said that they are two different exercises and not related. So far, two states — Kerala and West Bengal— have communicated to the Centre that they have put NPR on hold. Rajasthan government has not made its stand clear on NPR even as 20 Opposition parties under leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked the Centre to immediately stop NPR as it was first step towards the highly contentious National Register of Citizens. A few weeks back (December 27) chief minister Ashok Gehlot in a series of tweets had asked the Prime Minister come out with facts and truth on the Citizenship Amendment Act, NPR and NRC.

“When the people across the nation are protesting against CAA and NRC, government should have rolled back the new law but they came up with NPR to mislead the nation, the PM (Narendra Modi) says one thing and Home Minister (Amit Shah) says something else. It is only increasing fear among people,” he had tweeted.in another tweet he said: “Instead of assuaging people’s fears about government’s intentions, Modi ji and Amit Shah ji are increasing uncertainty through contradictory claims. It has led to unrest. The PM must come out with facts and truth.”

BJP spokesperson Pankaj Meena said the NPR programme was brought out by UPA-II, which aims at ensuring that the government schemes are availed by the poor. But opposition including the Congress is misleading people only for vote politics. The state government officials said the decision on NPR would be taken at the highest level in the government.