Amid protests over citizenship law, West Bengal stays work on NPR

Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Monday stayed all activities relating to the preparation and updation of the National Population Register (NPR) in the state, amid furore over the citizenship law.

An order issued by the Home and Hill Affair Department Census Cell to commissioners of Kolkata and Howrah municipal corporations and all district magistrates said that all activities regarding the preparation and updation of the NPR are stayed in West Bengal.

"No activity regarding NPR may be taken up without prior clearance from the government of West Bengal. The order is issued in the interest of public order," the circular said.

The decision to stop work relating to the NPR comes amid violent protests in parts of West Bengal over the amended Citizenship Act and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reiterating that the law and the proposed NRC will not be implemented in the state.

The central government has decided to prepare the NPR by September 2020 to lay the foundation for rolling out a citizens' register across the country.

The NPR will be a list of usual residents of the country.

Once the NPR is completed and published, it is expected to be the basis for preparing the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC), a pan-India version of Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC), according to an official.

For the purpose of the NPR, a usual resident is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more.

The NPR exercise will be conducted in conjunction with the house listing phase, the first phase for Census 2021.

The NPR exercise is conducted at the local, sub-district, district, state and national levels.

The RGI has already begun a pilot project in over 1,200 villages and 40 towns and cities through 5,218 enumeration blocks, where it is collecting various data from people.

The final enumeration will begin in April 2020 and end in September 2020.

 

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