Ex-Officials Urge Census Data Confidentiality Amid NPR Concerns
· India · The Hindu, thehindu
Former Census officials in New Delhi have raised concerns that the Union government's decision to advance the Population Enumeration phase of Census 2027 in four poll-bound states could link the Census with the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens. Former Deputy Registrar General K. Narayanan Unni noted that while Census data is legally confidential and restricted to statistical use, historical precedent exists, such as the 1951 Census when NRC data was compiled by copying Census schedules. The inclusion of new questions in the latest Census schedule has heightened anxiety among civil society groups and political parties over potential citizenship exclusions. The government has not formally clarified whether the collected data will feed into population registration exercises.
Why it matters
The debate touches on core privacy rights and national citizenship verification processes affecting millions of citizens across India.
Read the original report — The Hindu
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