First phase of census postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak: Centre

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday told Lok Sabha that the first phase of census and updating process of National Population Register (NPR) have been postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, reported ANI.

Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, said in a written statement that the Centre has decided to conduct census 2021 under the Census Act, 1948 in two phases- House listing and Housing Census during April-September, 2020 and Population Enumeration during February 9-28, 2021.

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“Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the first phase of census, updation of NPR and other related field activities have been postponed,” he said.

The statement read that along with the first phase of the census, it was also decided to update the NPR under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

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The demographics of each family and individual were to be updated and collected during the exercise of updation of NPR, which happens every 10 years in the country, and no document was to be collected during this exercise, he said.

The minister said the government was in discussions with the states having concerns in regard to the preparation of NPR.