{"id":49591,"date":"2025-06-08T00:20:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T18:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=49591"},"modified":"2025-06-10T10:47:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T05:17:25","slug":"census-2026-27-may-trigger-npr-and-nrc-rollout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/census-2026-27-may-trigger-npr-and-nrc-rollout\/","title":{"rendered":"Census 2026\u201327 May Trigger NPR and NRC Rollout"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>National Population Register (NPR) Latest News<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Census, scheduled in two phases during 2026 and 2027, will enable delimitation, implementation of the Women\u2019s Reservation Bill.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It will also facilitate updates to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/national-population-register-npr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">National Population Register (NPR)<\/a>, potentially laying the groundwork for a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Census 2026\u201327: Implications Beyond Population Count<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Census to Enable Key Constitutional Exercises<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The upcoming Census, scheduled in two phases across 2026 and 2027, is expected to facilitate the delimitation of constituencies and the implementation of the Women\u2019s Reservation Bill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>NPR Update Likely During House Listing Phase<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Sources indicate that the National Population Register (NPR) will likely be updated during the house listing phase, but a decision on advancing to a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) is pending.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>NPR-NRC: Politically Sensitive Terrain<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The NPR-NRC issue triggered nationwide protests following the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In 2020, 10 states and two Union Territories passed Assembly resolutions opposing the NPR and NRC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>No Official Mention in Latest Announcement<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>While the government\u2019s latest Census announcement is silent on NPR and NRC, both were approved by the Cabinet in 2019 with an allocated budget of nearly \u20b94,000 crore.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The exercise was deferred due to the pandemic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Legal Framework Governing NPR and NRC<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>NPR as a Legal Precursor to NRC<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The National Population Register (NPR) is governed by the\u00a0<strong>Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003<\/strong>, framed under Section 18 of the Citizenship Act, 1955.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>NPR serves as the foundation for preparing the National Register of Citizens (NRC).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rules Define Process and Authority<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rule 3(4):<\/strong>\u00a0The Centre can order the preparation of the Population Register.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rule 3(5):<\/strong>\u00a0NRC will be based on verified NPR data.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rule 4(4):<\/strong>\u00a0People with doubtful citizenship are to be flagged and informed during verification.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rule 7 &amp; 17:<\/strong>\u00a0Heads of families must provide accurate data or face a fine of up to \u20b91,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>NPR and NRC History<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>NPR data was first collected in 2010 and updated in 2015.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Though the Modi government later prioritised Aadhaar for welfare delivery, NPR was revived in 2019 by the Registrar General of India (RGI), who also digitised the 2015 data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Political Backdrop and Public Anxiety<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The NPR revival coincided with nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and fears of a nationwide NRC, especially after the exclusion of 19 lakh people in Assam&#8217;s NRC.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Statements by Union Home Minister Amit Shah linking CAA and NRC increased public concern.<\/li>\n<li>Later, PM Modi and the MHA clarified that no decision on NRC had been taken.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Legal Basis for NRC in the Citizenship Act<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The 2003 amendment to the Citizenship Act inserted Section 14A, empowering the Central Government to compulsorily register every Indian citizen and issue a national identity card.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It also designated the Registrar General of India as the National Registration Authority.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>National Population Register (NPR) FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1.<\/strong>\u00a0What is the NPR?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0NPR is a registry of usual residents, forming the foundation for NRC under the Citizenship Rules, 2003.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2.<\/strong>\u00a0How is the NRC related to NPR?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0The NRC is built from NPR data after verification and marks individuals with doubtful citizenship for further scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3.<\/strong>\u00a0Why is the NPR controversial?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0It gained attention post-CAA 2019, sparking protests over fears of exclusion and concerns about citizenship verification.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4.<\/strong>\u00a0When was NPR last updated?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0NPR was last updated in 2015; its revival began in 2019 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q5.<\/strong>\u00a0Is NRC currently being implemented?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0No, the government has not officially decided on a nationwide NRC, despite prior statements suggesting future implementation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/political-pulse\/census-opens-the-door-for-national-population-register-update-10053779\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026\u201327 Census may update the NPR, setting the stage for NRC. Political and legal implications remain under watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":49595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,757,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-49591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-national-population-register","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}