Hindu Daily Digest - Editor's Pick: an RTI query on NPR

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

The Registrar General of India has said that the questionnaire for updating the National Population Register is being finalised. In a reply to an RTI query from The Hindu, the Registrar's office also said that the dates for the first phase of Census 2021 — the house listing phase, during which NPR details are collected — have not been finalised. The first phase was to happen from April to September this year but was postponed due to the lockdown.

The NPR is a register of the residents — not citizens — of the country with basic demographic details. The first NPR was prepared in 2010 and t updated in 2015. It is the first step towards the creation of the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC, or NRC). The residents enumerated in the NPR will have to prove their citizenship to be part of the NRC. The NRC is mandated by Section 14(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, inserted via an amendment in 2004.

The NRC had been in the eye of a storm after the government amended the Citizenship Act further in 2019 to grant citizenship to refugees from minority communities in Muslim-majority neighbouring countries. The fear was that this Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019 when followed by the NRC would result in Muslims being denied citizenship if they are not able to provide adequate documents. This had led to several States opposing the updating of the NPR. The fears were aggravated when a revised draft of the questionnaire for updating the NPR reportedly had questions on the birthplace of parents. This draft was used during a pre-test of the NPR process with 30 lakh people in 2019 and had reportedly got no adverse comments. It is likely that the questions will be the same in the final process as well. The government has sought to allay fears over the NPR and of targeting of Muslims. However, the concerns remain. This is what makes the story important.