National Population Register updation: Centre to seek info on date and place of parents’ birth

“The data for NPR will be updated alongside the first phase of Census…No biometric data is being collected during the updation exercise,” said a source.

Sources further said data on 21 points will be collected for updating the NPR. These include date and place of birth of parents, last place of residence, Permanent Account Number, Aadhaar (on voluntarily basis), Voter ID card number, Driving License number and mobile number.

In the last NPR in 2010, data was collected on 15 points. These 15 points did not include date and place of birth of parents, last place of residence, passport number, Aadhaar ID, PAN, Driving Licence number, Voter ID card and Mobile number. The three points of mother’s name, father’s name and name of spouse have been made into one point this time.

According to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, notified on December 10, 2003, a Population Register is ‘the register containing details of persons usually residing in a village or rural area or town or ward or demarcated area (demarcated by the Registrar General of Citizen Registration) within a ward in a town or urban area.

“It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR. A usual resident is defined for the purposes of NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more,” says the Census of India website.

Meanwhile, sources said several new initiatives are being taken to conduct Census 2021 which include the facility to the public for self-enumeration and the use of a mobile application time for data collection.