NPR coastal areas census to be soon extended all over country

KOCHI: The National Population Register census would commence in 3331 coastal villages of nine states and four union territories in April and would soon be extended to cover 120 crore people all over the country, Union minister of state for home Ajay Makkan said here Saturday.

This exercise will start with the census operations from April 1 this year, which means this huge exercise of data entry and creation of NPR, confined to 1.20 crore people now, will be extended to 120 crore permanent residents of the country, he told reporters here.

Of the around 1.22 crore people in coastal villages, 80 lakh would be those aged above 15 years, for whom biometrics would be collected, along with their names and other requirements in the NPR. Anyone above 18 years of age will be provided with a Smart Plastic Card, he said.

The massive exercise is also being linked to UID numbers, he said, adding that the government, through the UID authority, intended to give such numbers to permanent residents whose names are in the NPR.

He said Centre would spend around Rs 6,000 crore for the exercise and claimed creation of NPR was one of the biggest exercise in the world ever to have taken place.

Makkan, who has come here to oversee the ongoing NPR census in coastal areas of Kerala, said the state government has completed data entry for 78 per cent of the coastal areas in Kerala, covering about six of 10 districts.

In Tamil Nadu, the exercise has already been completed and the success rate there has been over 98 per cent, he said.