PM Modi defends NPR, says updating it will help give benefits of govt schemes to poor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a strong defence of the National Population Register (NPR), saying it was being updated to allow the rightful beneficiaries get the benefit of government welfare schemes.

In Rajya Sabha, he said the NPR was first done in 2010 and later updated in 2015.

He said census and NPR are "usual administrative" processes which have been carried out previously as well but have now suddenly become contentious.

Questions asked in the NPR are purely governance related, he said citing the example of asking citizens of the language spoken by them and their parents are deeply linked to the schools that need to be set up in that particular area.

"Dont try to mislead people," he said, asking opposition parties to not politicise the issue for narrow political gains.

"They are opposing (NPR) for narrow and frivolous political narrative. This is anti-poor," he said, adding his government had made productive use of the data collected by previous NPR to give benefits of the schemes to the poor.

"We have record of your NPR, no citizen was persecuted based on that record of NPR," he said, citing the statement of the home minister of the Congress-led UPA government appealing to citizens to enrol in the exercise.