Kerala attends, West Bengal skips NPR-Census meeting called by MHA on January 17

Preparing for the National Population Register (NPR), the chief secretaries of all states and Census directors are meeting current in Delhi on Friday. The meeting which has been called by the Ministry of Home Affairs is being attended by all states except West Bengal, according to ANI. MoS Home Nityanand Rai and Union Home Secretary AK Bhalla are chairing the meeting and will discuss both processes which are set to be undertaken parallelly from April 2020. 

After Kerala govt, IUML moves SC seeking stay on CAA; Governor not informed, not happy

Kerala attends, Bengal skips NPR-Census meet

Kerala government stops NPR process after West Bengal, claims 'apprehension among public'

Kerala govt stalls NPR, challenges CAA at SC

On December 20, the LDF-led Kerala government stalled the National Population Register (NPR) process in the wake of the apprehension among the public about NPR leading to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Subsequently, on January 14,  the Kerala government moved the Supreme Court against the act. The Centre has stated that the CAA cannot be stalled by states as it comes under the Union government but has assured that nation-wide NRC has not been implemented yet.

West Bengal not to take part in NPR meeting on Jan 17: Mamata

Bengal stays NPR

On December 16, West Bengal government stayed the preparation/updation of the National population register (NPR) process in the state, directing the  Census cell that no census activities will be taken up without clearance from the West Bengal government. Several other states like Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra are mulling to stay the process or not. On the other hand, Bihar, ruled by the JDU-BJP combination has declared the dates for implementing NPR.

Mamata Banerjee govt stays Census updation process in West Bengal amid anti-CAA violence

What is the National population register?

The NPR documents all the usual residents of the country and is prepared at the local, sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955. Any resident who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more, or intends to do the same has to mandatorily register in the NPR. The NPR will contain demographic and biometric details and will be prepared by September 2020. The NPR was first prepared in 2010 and updated in 2015. Meanwhile, the census department is currently gearing for the next census count (which is undertaken once in a decade) in  2021.