Government out to match Aadhaar, NPR data

With the government having recorded the biometric as well as personal details of 48 crore and 27 crore people — many of whom are expected to be in both databases — it has set out on an exercise integrate Aadhaar with the National Population Register, establish the nationality of those registered and weed out illegal immigrants. The government has in its database the iris scan as well as the fingerprints of around 48 crore under Aadhar and 27 crore in the NPR. While Aadhaar is a proof of identity, NPR is meant to register only Indian citizens. - 

“Whether one has Aadhaar or not, it is must for every Indian to be registered under NPR, which is a proof of nationality. Enumerators have already visited all households in the country and collected details. What they will do now is a de-duplication exercise as similar details have been recorded under Aadhaar too. Once that is done, we expect to determine the nationality of each individual in the country, thereby identifying illegal immigrants,” Minister of State (Home) Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary told The Indian Express.

His ministry, under which the NPR is being implemented, recently sanctioned Rs 921 crore to complete the project by March 2016. According to the 2011 Census, 

India has a population of 120 crore. “The national database we are creating by recording demographic as well as biometric details through NPR will aid the government in 

e-governance a well as weeding out ghost residents. The exercise will help us extend the benefits to the deserving people.” Under NPR, 15 fields of demographic data apart from the biometric data of residents are collected. Aadhar records biometrics with five fields of demographic data. The five Aadhaar fields — name, address, gender, age, name of father/mother/guardian and photograph — are among the 15 in NPR. The additional details to be filled in NPR include place of birth, nationality as declared, and permanent residential address. Chaudhary said NPR would soon be linked with registration of birth and death certificates. “We will also register prisoners across the country under NPR. It will help us keep track of the person wherever he goes. At one click, we will get all the details of the person. We are also planning to link NPR with registration of birth and death certificates.”