Amit Shah appeals to Kerala & WB Chief Ministers, asks to review decision & implement NPR

Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday spoke to news agency ANI on National Population Register, the National Register of Citizens, Citizenship (Amendment) Act and other issues surrounding the matter. 

During the interaction, the Home Minister also spoke about Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stopping National Population Register related work for their states. Amit Shah appealed to the Chief Ministers of both the states to review their decision.

He said, "I humbly appeal to both Chief Ministers again, do not take such a step and please review your decisions, don't keep the poor out of development programs just for your politics." 

The Home Minister also cleared the air of confusion surrounding NPR and NRC. Shah cleared that nobody will lose their citizenship because of NPR. He said, "Some names may be missed in the NPR, still their citizenship will not be revoked because this is not the process of NRC. The NRC is a different process. I want to make it clear that nobody will lose citizenship because of NPR."

READ | Kerala government stops NPR process after West Bengal, claims 'apprehension among public'

Kerala and West Bengal stall NPR process

The LDF-led Kerala government on Friday has stalled the National Population Register (NPR) process. The order passed by the state government stated that it had stalled the process in the wake of the apprehension among the public about NPR leading to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the wake of the amended Citizenship Act. Earlier on Monday, the West Bengal government put a halt to the preparation/updating of the National population register (NPR) process in the state. The government had issued a directive to the Census cell stating that no census activities will be taken up without clearance from the West Bengal government. 

READ | Union Cabinet gives a nod to NPR updation, the process to begin from April 2020

What is the National population register?

The NPR documents all the usual residents of the country and is prepared at the local, sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955. Any resident who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more, or intends to do the same has to mandatorily register in the NPR. The NPR will contain demographic and biometric details and will be prepared by September 2020. The NPR was first prepared in 2010 and updated in 2015. Meanwhile, the census department is currently gearing for the next census count (which is undertaken once in a decade) in 2021.

READ | Union Minister Muraleedharan says stoppage of NPR update will deprive people of 'benefits'

READ | Brinda Karat: CAA, NRC, NPR are "Trishul attack" on the heart of India