NPR and NRC are not linked: Amit Shah

"Now that the debate of CAA is ending, a new political debate is being built up, revolving around NRC. None of the rumors are true," Amit Shah told ANI.

"These are two different legislations and aren't related to each other," he said.

"The Census will take place in 2021. We're doing both NPR and Census together because they are similar. In April 2020, the mapping will begin and the enumeration will take place in 2021," he said.

He said NPR takes away no one's citizenship.

"It is a decadal exercise. It maps people who have shifted to new states. It registers new children and removes people who're dead.
Nothing new is being done. Every thing has been done in the past, he said.

Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved the proposal for conducting Census of India 2021 at a cost of Rs. 8,754.23 crore and updation of National Population Register (NPR) at a cost of Rs. 3,941.35 crore.

Census of India will cover the entire population in the country while NPR will also cover all the population except in the state  of Assam.                                                             
The Indian Census is largest administrative and statistical exercise in the world. The next decennial Census is due in 2021 and would be conducted in two phases:

House listing and Housing Census - April to September, 2020 and Population Enumeration - 9th February to 28th February, 2021.

The National Population Register (NPR) will also be updated along with House listing and Housing Census except in Assam.

30 lakh field functionaries will complete this gigantic exercise of national importance, up from 28 lakh in 2011.

Census is the biggest source of primary data at village, town and ward level providing micro level data on various parameters including Housing Condition; Amenities & Assets, Demography, Religion, SC & ST, Language, Literacy & Education, Economic Activity, Migration and Fertility.

The Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990 provide the legal framework for conduct of Census.

The National Population Register (NPR) was prepared in 2010 under the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and Citizenship Rules, 2003, which was subsequently updated in 2015 by seeding it with Aadhaar.

Image: BJP Twitter page