The National Population Register (NPR) is a comprehensive identity database to be maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Ministry of Home Affairs .
As per Section 14A of the Citizenship Act 1955 as amended in 2004, it is compulsory for every citizen of the country to register in the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC). The creation of the National Population Register (NPR) is the first step towards preparation of the NRIC. Out of the universal dataset of residents, the subset of citizens would be derived after due verification of the citizenship status. Therefore, it is compulsory for all usual residents to register under the NPR.
The objective of creating this identity database is to help in better utilization and implementation of the benefits and services under the government schemes, improve planning and security in the country.
The Government of India has initiated the creation of this database, by collecting specific information of all usual residents in the country during the House listing and Housing Census phase of Census 2011 during April 2010 to September 2010. It is planned that the collected information of the Usual Residency (aged 5 and above) of 17 states and 2 UTs will now be digitized, and biometric data will be collected from these residents for further integration.
National Register of Indian Citizens
The National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) will be a Register of
citizens of the country. It will be prepared at the local (Village
level), sub District (Tehsil/Taluk level), District, State and National
level after verifying the details in the NPR and establishing the citizenship of each individual. The NRIC, therefore, would be a sub-set of the NPR. 