The Union government has not yet decided whether to update the National Population Register (NPR) during the upcoming Population Census 2027, senior Home Ministry officials told Census directors during a recent preparatory meeting.

When questions were raised about the NPR during a two-day conference of the Directors of Census Operations held on July 3 and 4, participants were told that no decision had yet been made regarding the updation of the database and that they would be informed at an appropriate time, sources told The Hindu.

The conference sessions were addressed by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and Registrar General of India (RGI) and Census Commissioner of India Mritunjay Kumar Narayan. This was the first preparatory meeting for the Census exercise, the first phase of which begins in April 2026.

A June 27 letter from the RGI to the Chief Secretaries of all States on preparations for the Census also did not mention the NPR.

NPR data can be shared

The NPR is the first step for the creation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC), according to the Citizenship Rules, 2003 under the Citizenship Act, 1955. The NPR was first created in 2010 and data was collected simultaneously during the first phase — called the House Listing and Housing (HLO) schedule — of the 2011 Census. The NPR database was then updated in 2015-16.

The NPR database has household-wise details of the country’s 119 crore usual residents. Unlike Census data, which is only shared in an aggregate format, specific individual and household data from the NPR can be shared with Central and State governments and agencies.

Enumerators for the 2027 Census will begin training for the exercise in the last week of July, a government official said. This will be the first Census in which enumerators use mobile apps to collect data. The pre-test exercise to check the efficacy of the entire process will be held in the last week of August and the first week of September.

Pre-test questionnaires

This is the first Census since 2011 as the Census scheduled to take place in 2021 was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will now be completed in 2027. The pre-test exercise for the planned 2021 Census took place in 2019, covering more than 26 lakh people in all States. It included questions on household amenities from the first phase, and questions from the second Population Enumeration phase, as well as questions for the NPR database.

This time around, however, only questions pertaining to household amenities in the first phase will be asked in the pre-test. There will not be any trial exercise of the questionnaire for Population Enumeration, the official said. This second phase, expected to take place in February 2027, will include a question on caste as this is the first Census in independent India to enumerate caste. The fact that it is not being included in the pre-test exercise indicates that the methodology to count the population by caste is yet to be finalised.

The pre-test questionnaires must be notified in the Gazette of India under Section 17A of the Census Act, 1948 before the trial exercise commences.

Controversial questions

The NPR questionnaire for the 2019 pre-test included questions on the date and place of birth of the resident’s father and mother, last place of residence, mother tongue, Aadhaar (optional), voter ID, mobile phone number, and driving license number.

Opposition-ruled States expressed apprehensions regarding these additional questions. Citing “public order” concerns, the West Bengal and Kerala governments told the RGI in 2019 that the NPR exercise should be halted. In 2019 and 2020, thousands of people took to the streets across the country protesting the Centre’s decision to update the NPR, which is considered the basis for preparation of the NRC that could potentially exclude millions of people born in the country from Indian citizenship.