Census 2027: Ex-officials warn against linking data with NPR, NRC

The Union government's decision to bring forward the Population Enumeration phase of Census 2027 in four poll-bound States, along with the addition of several new questions, has prompted former Census officials to raise concerns about data quality and the potential linkage between the Census, the National Population Register (NPR), and ultimately the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Records show a historical precedent for using Census data in preparing the NRC. In 1951, during India's first Census after Independence, the NRC was prepared across the country by copying data from 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.

K. Narayanan Unni, a former Deputy Registrar General of India, said in an interview that any link between the Census and population-registration activities remains speculative. However, he acknowledged that some of the information sought in the latest Census questionnaire resembles data collected during previous NPR updation exercises.

The NPR, first created in 2011 and initially proposed to be updated along with the first phase of the now-scrapped Census 2021, has been deferred due to opposition from political parties and civil society groups. These groups feared the data could be used to create a countrywide NRC, a process they allege might lead to a large number of people being left out of citizenship.

Mr. Unni said, "NPR is generated under the Citizenship Act, and data is supposed to be published. However, Census data is confidential and can only be used for statistical purposes. But in 1951, Census data was used to prepare the NRC in Assam..." He added that even though Census data is confidential, this does not mean the 1951 exercise of using it to prepare the NRC will not be repeated.

On August 14, 2026, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI) notified a set of 40 questions for the Population Enumeration phase, adding 13 new questions or data fields that were not part of the 2011 Census questionnaire.

Some of the additional questions, such as particulars of a person's parents, including their names, religion, place of birth, Aadhaar number, mobile phone number, voter ID, and driving licence details, mirror those asked in the rehearsal form of the NPR in 2019. The NPR was updated in 2015 and already holds a family-wise database of 119 crore residents.

The 1951 Census report by R.B. Vaghaiwalla, the Superintendent of Census Operations for Assam, Manipur and Tripura, shows that the NRC was conceived primarily as a Census and administrative tool rather than a citizenship-verification exercise. "An important innovation of this Census was the preparation of the NRC, in which all important Census data was transcribed from the Census slips. The Register uses the same symbols and abbreviations and is a copy of the Census slips," the report said.

Missing NRC entries were copied from Census slips, and missing Census slips were recreated from NRC entries under a special reconciliation exercise undertaken by Vaghaiwalla. This occurred despite countrywide instructions from the Registrar General to limit such checks "in the interest of economy of time and money."

According to Vaghaiwalla, the register was intended to be maintained permanently and updated by village officials, providing continuity between Censuses. Though Section 15 of the Census Act, 1948 ensures confidentiality and states that "records of census [are] not open to inspection nor admissible in evidence," the NRC was prepared using the data, establishing a precedent.

Former officials and civil society groups now urge the government to clearly separate Census data collection from NPR or NRC exercises, reinforcing the legal safeguards that protect individual information. The Census Act's confidentiality provisions are meant to ensure the public trusts the enumeration process, which is crucial for accurate demographic data essential for policy planning and resource allocation.