Cong leader Sandeep Dikshit says, 'UPA version of NPR very different than NDA's NPR"

As the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the updation of the National Population Register (NPR), former Member of Parliament Sandeep Dikshit slammed the Narendra Modi-led Central government for introducing National Register of Citizens through the backdoor of NPR.

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While interacting with a news agency, the former MP said, "If NPR is not related to citizenship, then why is the government introducing NPR? Census carries out total population count and even informs about how many people are based where? There is no stable population anywhere. What are the benefits of NPR? PM Modi had said that all the countries have a register of its citizens, which is not true." 

Adding further to his statement, Dikshit said, "You introduced NRC to identify the citizens and now through the backdoor, you are converting it to NPR. In 2003, the Vajpayee government had introduced an Amendement, which was carried forward by the UPA in 2011. The UPA version of NPR was very different from the present NDA version. The NPR suggested by the new government can be easily misused by the wrong people. If any authority receives private information of a person, then it will only lead to an increase in corruption. The chaotic condition in Assam will be repeated in every household of India."

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What is National Population Register or NPR?

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.

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