The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Vivek Joshi, will ask the UIDAI to verify biometric data of individuals to include it in the National Population Register (NPR) programme instead of collecting the details again, the Economic Times reported. Citing a senior home ministry source, the report said that this move will put a stop to the debate on which agency has dominance collection of biometric data. This development comes at a time when the government has announced that it is testing collecting data for Census 2021 digitally. In a notification dated June 12, 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs said, “Pre-test of Census 2021 would be extremely challenging, as the digital mode of data collection would be tested in the field for the first time. The digital mode of data collection, if adopted in Census 2021[,] will result in the faster publication of Census data, helping policy formulation and research." Digital mode of data collection for Census 2021 In June 2018, the government had notified that, "The schedules and other connected papers [with the Census] shall be disposed of totally or in part by the Director of Census Operations, after creating electronic record of such documents, in accordance with the general or special directions as may be given by the Census Commissioner in this behalf". During the Data Users’ Conference held on April 9, 2019, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba had cautioned that while using technology for data collection in Census 2021, data confidentiality should be maintained. Census…
