FOR NPR, DISCLOSURE OF FATHER’S PLACE OF BIRTH NOT MANDATORY: Paswan

Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has defended the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Population Register (NPR) saying” “No Government can dare to snatch away any person’s citizenship. If any effort is made in this direction, there be an upheaval. No regime is empowered to deprive any citizen of his or her citizenship adding the Indian Constitution guaranteed “right to freedom of expression” which ought to be respected while dealing with protests. Paswan said and added that it was at his instance that the Union Home Ministry agreed to “amend” the NPR forms wherein columns like those pertaining to places of birth of parents had triggered fears that the exercise might be a precursor to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “Even I do not know my date of birth. Do I cease to become a citizen on that account? I had told the Home Ministry that these things will cause confusion. Now the Ministry has amended the forms”, he told reporters in Patna. The Union Home Ministry had recently stated that people could “skip” the aforementioned columns after a request to the effect was made by Non BJP ruled states.  However, he added “we owe our rise in politics to the 1974 students’ movement. Now, students, the youth have their own sentiments. We cannot do much about that. But it is true that the police often go overboard in enforcing rule of law, said Paswan. It may be recalled that the   Centre has approved Rs 3,941.35 crore for updating the National Population Register. As per the Government, the NPR is a list of “usual residents” of the country, with “usual resident” being defined as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more, or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more