The Union Ministry of Home Affairs stressed the need for updating National Population Register in its annual report on Monday. The exercise has been protested by minorities following the introduction of the 2019 citizenship law.

The National Population Register is a list of all the usual residents of India. It was first prepared in 2010.

The government decided to update the NPR database in the entire country except for the State of Assam along with the Houselisting Phase of Census 2021 from April to September 2020 as per the convenience of the State/UT Governments. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the work of NPR updation and other related field activities have been postponed until further orders, it said.

The Union Government has already approved the expenditure of 3941.35 crores for updation of NPR, states the report.

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