THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala cabinet recently decided not to give answers to those two questions when officers reach homes to take census
This has created anxiety among citizens as well as census officers.

“Don’t answer if question is asked about one’s date of birth and place of birth of his or her parents” – this has been the instruction that came up during the Cabinet meeting. This is nothing but part of the political agenda to spurn and reject National Population Register (NPR). When the advice is that the two questions pertains to NPR and therefore answering them is not necessary, people are worried about its after-effect.

“What is the difficulty or harm in answering those simple questions? If we refuse to answer the questions, will we get all benefits from the Centre in the future?”
These are the questions that worry both the officers and the people.

While the Centre is the authority of censes, the state is responsible to conduct the census without any flaw. Meanwhile, the government has insisted on leaving those two columns blank and has given assurance of protection to people, in case they are denied any benefit in future.