National Population Register

News:Union Home Minister has said that the National Population register(NPR) is being prepared for the first time in the Census 2021.

Facts:

About National population register:

• The National Population Register or NPR is a Register of the residents of the nation. 
• NPR is prepared at the local, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
• The exercise is different from the Census 2021 and is not linked to the National Register of Citizens(NRC).

Objective:

• The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.
• It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.

Definition of resident under NPR:

• A usual resident is defined for the purposes of NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.
• The NPR database would also contain demographic as well as biometric details.
• Under NPR,a resident identity card (RIC) will be issued to individuals over the age of 18.This will be a chip-embedded smart card containing the demographic and biometric attributes of each individual.The UID number will also be printed on the card.