Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Monday said the National Population Register (NPR) would not be implemented in the State “at present”, allaying fears over a notification for its update issued by the State government earlier.
“The notification being talked about was issued on December 9,” he was quoted as saying in a note issued by his office. “After this, the Centre implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Therefore, the NPR notification has not been issued under the CAA, 2019.”
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According to the notification dated December 9 and published in the gazette on December 13, the update of the NPR will be undertaken along with House-listing exercise from May 1 to June 14. The CAA received the President’s assent on December 12.
Mr. Nath said the notification was issued under rule 3 of the 2003 rules of the Citizenship Act, 1955, a clarification given in response to Congress MLA (Bhopal Central) Arif Masood’s threat of agitation if the State government went ahead with the update.
“We would launch a campaign from Bhopal against the CAA, the NRC and the NPR,” Mr. Masood had told reporters.
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The notification says the update would be undertaken in pursuance of sub-rule (4) of Rule 3 of the Citizenship Rules, 2003. The sub-rule under the “National Register of Indian Citizens” says the Centre may decide a date by which the NPR shall be prepared by collecting information relating to persons “usually residing” within the jurisdiction of the Local Registrar. While sub-rule (5) says the Local Register of Indian Citizens shall contain details of persons “after due verification” made from the NPR. The 2003 rules, however, prescribe 12 queries, while more contentious ones, including the place of birth of parents, have been mooted after the CAA.
Earlier, State Law Minister P.C. Sharma had told The Hindu the Congress government’s stand remained unchanged, despite the notification.
Moreover, on February 5, the State Cabinet passed a resolution exhorting the Centre to abrogate the contentious law, and begin the NPR update only after withdrawing the plan to seek new information, to quell apprehensions.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) on January 11 demanded the “process of NPR be stopped forthwith”, a resolution later adopted by the Assemblies of Congress-led Rajasthan, Punjab and Puducherry.