The National Population Register, commonly known as the NPR, is a strange legal beast. Distinct from the National Register of Citizens or N...
The National Population Register, commonly known as the NPR, is a strange legal beast. Distinct from the National Register of Citizens or NRC that the Bharatiya Janata Party government has promised to institute, the NPR traces its origins to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, which were drafted under the Citizenship Act, 1955. It is to form the basis of the NRC.
Despite being created under the Citizenship Act, the NPR is designed in a manner that requires it to rely on the administrative machinery created under the Census Act, 1948. The Director of Citizen Registration as per Rule 2(d) under the Citizenship Rules, 2003, is the Director of Census, as appointed under the Census Act, 1948.
Given the costs of a nationwide door-to-door enumeration exercise, it is no surprise that the government is carrying out the Census and the NPR together. It is, however, doubtful whether this is legal. As per Section 15 of the Census Act, there is a prohibition on making public the data collected by any Census official. There is also an express prohibition against the use of any data collected under the Census Act, for any civil or criminal proceedings. To that extent, the data collected under the Census...
