National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC)

National Population Register (NPR) is a registry of the usual residents of a country. It is often confused with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is the registry of all the citizens of a country. But what about NPR and NRC? Are they linked somehow? What is the difference between NPR and NRC? Census might be familiar as a survey of the population to record different trends such as socio-economic status, etc. What’s the connection between NPR, NRC and Census? Let’s answer these questions one by one. 

National Population Register (NPR)

• National Population Register (NPR) refers to the record that contains all the information about the usual residents residing in the country with a legal identity.
• The house to house enumeration for the census is “Jan ganna” and is held once in 10 years.
• A usual resident, according to NPR, is a person who has resided for 6 months or more in a particular place and wants to reside for another 6 months or more in the same particular place.
• An enumerator is a person appointed to record the census of the population, take the basic details of the head of the household, and issue a slip required for the enrollment whenever the registration process in NPR begins. No document is collected during this exercise.
• Once the details of everyone in every village, every ward, every sub-district, every district, and every state are taken together, it constitutes the National Population Register (NPR).
• Section 14A was included in the Citizenship Act (1955) in 2004 of the Indian Constitution, demanding a mandatory registration of every person residing in India. The National Population Register (NPR) is updated to include the changes due to birth, death and migration.
• It is conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The national registration authority for this identity card shall be the Registrar General of India.

National Register of Citizens (NRC)

• NRC is also referred to as NRIC, which stands for National Register of Indian Citizens. 
• It contains names and relevant details of the citizens of India. It is a record of all the citizens of the country.
• The register was prepared in 1951 and has not been updated since.
• It is conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs. 
• As per the provision written in Rule 3 of Citizenship Rules 2003 which is framed under Citizenship Act 1955, the Registrar General of Citizens registration shall make and maintain and prepare the population register.
• According to the section 14A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 amended in 2003 the central government can make a mandatory register of every citizen of India and issue an identity card.
• Its purpose is to document the citizens and identify the illegal immigrants residing within the country and deport them.

The Difference Between NPR and NRC

 National Population Register (NPR) is the register with detailed records of persons residing in any rural or urban area of India. In contrast,  the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the register of details about Indian citizens residing in India and outside India. Moreover, demographic and biometric data are collected in the case of NPR.

There have been various groups that have been protesting against NPR claiming that it has nothing to do with census but was the first step to initiate the NRC.The protests spread widely in 2019 against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). 

Conclusion

The protest seen in previous years makes it clear and simple that religious discrimination needs to be brought to an end. Being a secular country, people should not be questioned on the basis of their religious identity. This creates a sense of inequality among the people. However, it is important to have a proper record of identification because there have been many terrorist activities in the past. It is the responsibility of the government as well as the citizen to avoid illegal and unhealthy practices like discrimination based on religion.