Thiruvananthapuram: On Monday, the Kerala cabinet decided that it would ask enumerators to omit two questions - date of birth of respondents and details of their parents - from the census questionnaire.
Surprisingly, it came to light on Wednesday that the questionnaire does not contain those two controversial questions.
However, the two questions are included in the questionnaire for National Population Register (NPR).
The Left Democratic Front government had decided not to implement NPR in Kerala. Hence, it is not clear why the state government took objections to the questions that are not included in the questionnaire.
The questionnaire has 34 questions. The census exercise will begin in April.
The house owner's name, sex, community, and mobile number are the only personal questions on the list. The others are connected to the basic facilities at the house.
NPR questions
Questions on the parents' date of birth and place of birth have been included in the NPR questionnaire. There are also questions on the duration of stay at the current address.
Details not mandatory: Minister
Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said on Wednesday that there would be no mandatory condition and people could decide for themselves if they wanted to give the details.
However, he said the NPR was a Constitutional obligation and that the states should not oppose it.
"The Centre would continue to hold talks with the states to convey the need for collecting data. However, citizens would have the freedom to hold back details, they do not want to share, or about what they do not know," the minister explained.
NPR questionnaire not ready yet: Centre
In the wake of the controversy over the inclusion of parents' date and place of birth, the Union Home Ministry has clarified that the final questionnaire for the NPR has not been published yet. It further said the current questionnaire was prepared on an experimental basis.
Congress, among other parties, had alleged that the objective was to collect details for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) through the new questions in the NPR.
However, even the current list given by Central Census Directorate to the state includes controversial questions.
Know census-NPR
• Census and revision of the National Population Register (NPR) are two different exercises, and are notified under two laws.
• Census exercise is carried out in two phases. The first phase is from April 15 to May 29. During this phase, only the number of houses, details and house owner's name would be recorded. In the second phase from February 2021, details of the citizens would be taken. However, the questionnaire for this is yet to be prepared.
• The Union government decided to implement the procedures for the revision of the NPR along with the first phase of census. This questionnaire has controversial questions. Though the state government started the preliminary procedures for this, it suspended the notification on December 20, 2019.
