Ex-officials say Census data must be confidential amid concerns over potential NPR, NRC links
Former Indian census officials are expressing concerns that the upcoming 2027 Census could be linked to the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens. They highlight that while Census data is legally confidential, historical precedents suggest it could potentially be repurposed for citizenship verification.
Why it matters
The potential integration of statistical census data with citizenship registries is a highly sensitive political issue in India, raising significant privacy and social inclusion concerns.
The Union government’s decision to advance the Population Enumeration phase of Census 2027 in four poll-bound States , coupled with the introduction of several new questions in the Census schedule, has prompted some former Census officials to raise concerns regarding the quality of data that is to be collected and the potential links between the Census, the National Population Register (NPR) and, ultimately, the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
There is a precedent for Census data having been used to prepare the NRC. Records show that this took place in 1951, during Independent India’s first Census, when the NRC was prepared across the country by "copying" data from the Census schedules. However, for unspecified reasons, a countrywide NRC was never published, except in undivided Assam, which at the time also included Manipur and Tripura.
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