New Census will ask questions that sparked anti-CAA protests

The 14 new or modified questions, compared with the 2011 Census, are — spouse name, nationality as declared, father’s particulars, mother’s particulars, SC/ ST/ Caste, literacy/ digital literacy, highest educational level attained and stream/ discipline, place of Covid-19 vaccination, total number of bank accounts, mobile number (if available), Aadhaar number (if available), voter ID number (if available), passport number (if Indian passport holder), and availability of driving licence.

Of these, particulars on nationality, father’s particulars, mother’s particulars, mobile number, Aadhaar number, voter ID, passport number, and driving licence were also included in the NPR schedule notified in 2020.

 

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The NPR is the register of “usual residents” of the country. It is governed by the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, framed under the Citizenship Act, 1955. The rules provide for preparation of a Population Register and envisage its verification for preparation of the National Register of Indian Citizens.

The 2020 NPR schedule had sought, among other things, the date and place of birth of a person’s father and mother, including the district and state and, in case they were born outside India, the country of birth. These questions had created considerable controversy in 2019-20, particularly after the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Opposition parties and civil society groups had argued that the NPR was a precursor to a nationwide NRC and that the collection of parental birth details could subsequently be used to determine citizenship. Several opposition-ruled states passed resolutions opposing the NPR exercise. The controversy was amplified by statements from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had repeatedly spoken of a nationwide NRC and sought to link the NRC with the CAA through his reference to the “chronology”. At the peak of the anti-CAA protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in December 2019 that the government had not taken any decision to conduct the NRC. The Home Ministry and Shah subsequently reiterated that position on several occasions.

The 2020 NPR exercise was ultimately postponed because of Covid-19 and was not notified afresh when Census operations were revived this year.

The new Census questionnaire thus brings back several of the questions that had been at the centre of that earlier controversy, even though there is currently no notification for conducting the NPR or any decision announced by the government to undertake a nationwide NRC.

Under Rule 3(4) of the Citizenship Rules, the Centre may decide a date by which the Population Register is to be prepared by collecting information on all persons “usually residing” within the jurisdiction of a Local Registrar. Rule 3(5) provides that the Local Register of Indian Citizens will contain details of persons after verification from the Population Register. Rule 4 further provides for marking the particulars of individuals whose citizenship is considered doubtful during the verification process for further inquiry.

It is this statutory link between the NPR and the NRC that had made the 2019-20 exercise politically contentious.

The NPR data was first collected in 2010, along with the houselisting phase of the 2011 Census, and was subsequently updated through a door-to-door exercise in 2015. The RGI revived the NPR through a notification in August 2019, and the exercise was scheduled to be carried out along with the houselisting phase of the 2021 Census.

The NPR exercise, however, was postponed due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Although the Union Budget 2026-27 allocated Rs 6,000 crore under the head “Census, Survey and Statistics/ Registrar General of India” for Census 2027 and NPR, the government did not notify a fresh NPR exercise when Census operations were taken up this year. The houselisting phase was notified for April 1 to September 30, but the notification made no mention of the NPR.

A Home Ministry official had said the allocation was in line with provisions made in previous budgets since 2020 and was intended to ensure funds were available “if and as and when” the government decided to conduct the NPR.