CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu is likely to collect data for National Population Register (NPR) in June or July next, provided the State government gives its nod. Data collection from households and updating of the NPR will be carried out mostly through mobile applications for the first time, according to sources from Directorate of Census Operation (Tamil Nadu). The decision to update the NPR, which was carried out earlier in 2010 and 2015, will be taken by the State government in the next 10 days after getting a nod from the Chief Secretary. “We have sought dates from the State from April to September. However, as per convention, the dates are usually given between June and July. The entire process will be completed within 45 days,” an official said.
New details
However, this time, details are being sought about Aadhaar Card, driving licence, voter identity card and passport for preparing the NPR. These are some of the new queries being drafted and will be carried out during the enumeration process. However, these details are not mandatory for people and some questions may change, the official said.
“During January 2020, some of the questions may be dropped and new ones introduced,” he said, adding that 1.8 lakh State government employees will be hired to carry out the entire process. To a query on reports alleging confusion over NPR queries seeking place of birth of father or mother and last place of residence, the official said there is nothing wrong with the queries as they were being used previously too.
“The idea is to know the pattern of migration,” he added. These are the same details the government collected during Aadhaar exercise, he said.
No consultation on NRC, says official; NPR data won’t be based on caste
The process of collecting date for the NPR comes after the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved over Rs 3,941.35 crore for updating the register across the country, barring Assam, and Rs 8,754.23 crore for conducting Census of India, 2021.
On whether the NPR would be the first step towards National Register of Citizens, the official said there has been no consultation towards the NRC. "Even the State is yet to receive any communication on this," he said, adding that his department won't deal with the NRC during this period.
The entire exercise of NPR was started in 2010 as per Citizenship Rules 2003. "We also conducted it in 2015. There was a pre-test census in areas selected from two districts in the State and a municipality - Coonoor taluk of The Nilgiris district, Ilayangudi taluk of Sivaganga district and Maraimalainagar municipality of Chengalpattu taluk in Kancheepuram district. The pre-test was done using mobile application during which we faced glitches initially. They were later rectified," the official said. Most of the residents in these three areas complied by providing their Aaadhar number, he added.
The official said apart from two districts, the Directorate of Census Operations was keen on taking up a ward in the Chennai Corporation with a population 60,000 to 70,000. During the 2011 census, only printed forms were used and this time, exclusive mobile app designed for census will be used. School teachers and government staff will be trained and engaged to carry out the entire process. He said the data won't be communal or caste based. "We will be collecting details about Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and this has been going on for long time," the official added.