New Delhi: Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, on Wednesday said that the Aadhaar number under the National Population Register (NPR) is collected voluntarily.

On plans to link NPR data with the data stored in the Aadhaar database, Rai, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, said, "In pursuance of Sub-rule (4) of Rule 3 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, framed under the Citizenship Act, 1955, Central Government decided to prepare and update the population register during April to September 2020 along with House listing and Housing Census throughout the country except Assam for collection of information relating to all persons usually residing in village or town. Aadhaar number under the National Population Register (NPR) is collected voluntarily."