Aadhaar, Passport holder? You’ll have to share details for NPR. Here's why

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Holding Aadhaar card, passport? Then you must pay attention! Sharing Aadhaar card, passport, driving license and PAN card details would become mandatory to update the National Population Register (NPR) for those who possess these documents, the Home Ministry sources clarified on January 15. Whereas, those who do not possess these documents in the first place, won't be asked to provide such details. The National Population Register (NPR), which will serve as a database of every Indian resident, will include all necessary details such as age and phone number for the perusal of the Centre.

Following this, the Ministry of Home Affairs Spokesperson tweeted, “As quoted in a news item, "Have Aadhar, Passport? You will have to share details for NPR...Voter id, DL Info also Mandatory", gives the wrong impression that these documents would have to be compulsorily given for NPR exercise. Such a connotation is not correct.” 

As per TOI report, The clarification comes after there is confusion surrounding the words “optional” and “voluntary”, which actually means that only those who have a passport or driving license issued to them would have to produce these documents. 

The confusion comes after Union Minister Piyush Goyal while announcing the Cabinet's approval of funding for Census 2021 and NPR 2020 on December 24, said sharing Aadhaar data would be optional during NPR. Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that updating the NPR would involve self-declaration and self-certification.

According to a senior government official, "Those who do not possess the above-mentioned documents would not be forced to produce them as 'proof'. However, for people who do have them, it will be mandatory to share the details with the government. Moreover, only those holding an Indian passport will be asked to give out their passport details".

The NPR was last updated in 2015 through a door-to-door survey. This time it will be done alongside the data collection for Census 2021, sometime in the middle of 2020. The MHA on Thursday clarified that the authorities will not ask for any documents during the house-to-house survey for updating the NPR and that information provided by individuals would be accepted and recorded.

Apart from Aadhaar, DL, and PAN data, the NPR is supposed to include details such as the name of the resident, date of birth, marital status, how the resident is related to the head of the household, father’s name, mother’s name, permanent residential address, educational qualification, etc.

Also Read: Lost Aadhaar card? Download your Aadhaar through mAadhaar app. Here’s how

Also Read: Aadhaar-PAN linking deadline extended till March 31, 2020