Cabinet paves way for NPR, Census next year

New Delhi: The cabinet on Tuesday approved funding for the Census and the National Population Register (NPR), to be conducted next year, even as home minister Amit Shah asserted that NPR is not linked to the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) that has sparked nationwide protests.

The only aim of NPR, Shah said in an interview to news agency ANI, is to help the government identify beneficiaries for welfare programmes.

Shah’s statement is at variance with what his ministry’s annual report and cabinet ministers, including him, have said in Parliament earlier, indicating that the government may have changed its mind on the issue.

The Congress criticized the government on the issue. “Home ministry’s latest annual report clearly says that NPR is a first step towards NRC. They have been repeating this since the last five years… Earlier, they said no NRC, now they have started NRC in the garb of NPR,” senior Congress leader Ajay Maken told reporters on Tuesday.

While the Census is aimed at gathering broader socio-economic data on Indians, including religion, caste, income and occupation, NPR, the government said on Tuesday, is a more narrowly focused exercise aimed at creating an “identity database”.

The cabinet’s decision comes amid nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC, which have been criticized by Opposition parties and students as unconstitutional and discriminatory against Muslims.

“We are launching a massive programme of national Census, which happens every 10 years. Every house will be mapped and listed from April to September 2020 and in February 2021 the headcount will be done,” Prakash Javadekar, Union minister of information and broadcasting, said, adding that the exercise was being undertaken to ensure that “all beneficiaries of schemes such as Ayushman Bharat and Ujjwala are accounted for and receive the benefits”.

The updating of NPR will take place along with the house-listing phase of Census 2021. “Technology will be used to make the process easier. Earlier, there used to be a very long form, which needed to be filled out. Now, an app has been designed and whatever you will fill on the app will be accepted,” said Javadekar.

He said no proof of citizenship, documentation or biometric details would be needed.

The 2011 Census pegged India’s population at 1.21 billion—a 17.6% rise from 2001.

In September, Shah said the government was set to spend ₹12,000 crore on the 2021 Census as well as for the preparation of NPR, adding that it would eliminate the need for multiple identifications.

NPR is distinct from the Census. NPR’s objective, as per the official Censusindia website, 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”.

Shah had said a cleaner and more streamlined Census would prepare the ground for compiling data for NPR, adding that the register had the potential to club all other forms of identification such as Aadhaar, permanent account number, driving licence and electoral photo identity cards on one platform.

The governments of West Bengal and Kerala last week stayed all activities connected to the updating of NPR, according to news agency PTI.

The cabinet also approved the ₹6,000 crore Atal Bhujal Yojana to improve groundwater management through community participation in priority areas of seven states—Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It will be implemented from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

The cabinet gave ex post facto approval to a pact with Saudi Arabia for cooperation in the renewable energy sector. It also gave ex post facto approval for amendments to the Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019, moved and passed by the Lok Sabha on 9 December. “It (the bill)shall deter potential perpetrators from indulging in illegal arms and ammunition trade and its manufacturing, streamline licensing provisions, better address present-day security needs and effectively deal with incidents and proliferation and trade of illicit arms and ammunition. At the same time, it will facilitate law abiding licence holders of arms by increasing the duration of arms licence,” the government said in a statement.

Shreya Nandi contributed to this story .