The CPI(M) on Wednesday demanded that the government detaches the census operations from the National Population Register (NPR) process.
In a statement, the party said that given the opposition by several chief ministers over the NPR process, it is necessary to separate the collection of data for the census operation from the announced NPR enumeration.
"The Census operations are constitutionally mandated to be conducted every decade, while the NPR figures in the rules framed under the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2003. Hence, legally they should not be clubbed together.
"The CPI(M) reiterates its understanding that the NPR data will be automatically used for preparing the National Register of Citizens. Crores of people, whose names may not figure in the NRC, will be then subjected to undue harassment and victimisation to prove that they are Indian citizens by furnishing documents," it said.
The party also said that a pilot study conducted earlier has shown that only 43 per cent of Indian citizens have required documentary proof.
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