For Census 2021, the Government has made the National Population Register (NPR) mandatory, allowing citizens to self-enumerate, for individuals who wish to fill out the census form themselves instead of relying on government enumerators.

• Self-enumeration refers to thecompletion of census survey questionnaires by the respondents themselves. Self-enumeration will be provided to only those households that have updated NPR online.
• During self-enumeration, Aadhaar or mobile numberwill be mandatorily collected.

Set of Questionnaires

• The upcoming Census will be thefirst digital one, allowing respondents to complete the questionnaire from their homes.
• The set of questions for the Houselisting and Housing Schedule phasehas been finalized, while the questions for the Population Enumeration phase are yet to be notified.
  • The comparison between the 2011 Censusand the next one reveals new inquiries on travel time and metro rail usage for commuting.
• The question on disabilities includes additional categorieslike acid attack, intellectual disability, chronic neurological disease, and blood disorder.
• The next Census willalso gather information on whether individuals living in rented houses own residential property elsewhere or do not own any.
• Clarifications are provided on theavailability of drinking water within specific distances from the premises.

National Population Register

• NPR is a databasecontaining a list of all usual residents of the country.
  • A usual resident for the purposes of NPR is a person who has resided in a place for six months or more and intends to reside there for another six months or more.
• Its objective is to have a comprehensive identity databaseof people residing in the country.
  • It is generated through house-to-house enumeration during the “house-listing” phase of the
• NPR was first collected in 2010. It was updated in 2015 and already has details of 119 crore residents.
  • In March 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) amended the Census Rules framed in 1990 to capture and store the Census data in an electronic form and enabled self-enumeration by respondents.
• Legal Backing:
  • The NPR is prepared under the provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
  • It is mandatory for every “usual resident of India” to register in the NPR.
• Significance:
  • It will streamline data of residents across various platforms.
    • For instance, it is common to find a different date of birth of a person on different government documents. NPR will help eliminate that.
  • It will help the government formulate its policies betterand also aid national security.
  • It will help to target government beneficiaries in a better way and also further cut down paperwork and red tape in a similar manner that Aadhaar has done.
  • It will help in implementing the idea of ‘One Identity Card’that has been recently floated by the government.
    • ‘One Identity Card’ seeks to replace duplicate and siloed documentations of Aadhaar card, voter ID card, banking card, passport, and more.

National Register of Citizens

• National Register of Citizens (NRC)is a register prepared after the conduct of the Census of 1951 in respect of each village, showing the houses or holdings in a serial order and indicating against each house or holding the number and names of persons staying therein.
• The NRC was published only once in 1951and since then, it has not been updated for the nation until recently.
  • It has been updated in Assam onlyfor now and the government plans to update it nationally as well.

NPR and NRC:

• • • According to Citizenship Rules 2003, NPR is the first step towards compilation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC). After a list of residents is created (i.e., NPR), a nationwide NRC could go about verifying the citizens from that list.
    • However, unlike the NRC, the NPR is not a citizenshipenumeration drive as it records even a foreigner staying in a locality for more than six months.
      • NRC is a register preparedafter the conduct of the Census of 1951 in respect of each village, showing the houses or holdings in a serial order and indicating against each house or holding the number and names of persons staying therein.

Difference between NPR and Census

• Objective:
  • The census involves a detailed questionnaire -there were 29 items to be filled up in the 2011 census - aimed at eliciting the particulars of every person, including age, sex, marital status, children, occupation, birthplace, mother tongue, religion, disability and whether they belonged to any Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.
  • On the other hand, NPR collects basic demographic data and biometric particulars.
• Legal Basis:
  • The census is legally backed by the Census Act, 1948.
  • The NPR is a mechanism outlined in a set of rules framed under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
• Comprehensive Identity Database:
  • The NPR, unlike the Census, is a comprehensive identity database of every “usual resident”in the country and the data proposed to be collected at the family level can be shared with States and other government departments.
  • Though Census also collects similar information, the Census Act of 1948 bars sharing any individual’s data with the State or Centre and only aggregate data at the administrative level can be released.

Citizenship Act, 1955

• • The Citizenship Act,1955 provides various ways in which citizenship may be acquired.
    • It provides forcitizenship by birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and by incorporation of the territory into India.
  • In addition, it regulates the registration of Overseas Citizen of India Cardholders (OCIs)and their rights.
    • An OCI is entitled to some benefits such as a multiple-entry, multipurpose lifelong visa to visit India.
  • CAA 2019:The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was introduced in 2019 to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955.
    • It provides citizenship on the basis of religion to six undocumented non-Muslim communities (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians)from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India on or before 31st December, 2014.
    • It exempts the members of the six communities from any criminal case under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passport Act, 1920.
      • The two Acts specify punishment for entering the country illegally and staying here on expired visas and permits.