The Joint Forum Against NRC, a conglomerate of apolitical mass organisations, on Tuesday announced a village-to-city awareness march from Canning in South 24-Parganas to the directorate of census operations in Calcutta from February 28 to March 5.
The main aim of the march, which will cover rural and semi-urban areas such as Bhangar, Haroa, Deganga, Sashan, Rajarhat and Hatiara before ending at Salt Lake’s Janaganana Bhavan (the office of the directorate), is to raise awareness regarding the National Population Register (NPR) update, scheduled to begin across the country on April 1.
As part of the campaign, the joint forum will, for instance, warn people against answering personal questions regarding ancestors, such as the date and place of birth of parents.
Joint forum convenor Prasenjit Bose said the way the NPR enumeration had been conjoined with the house-listing exercise of the census, it was bound to create confusion among citizens.
“While there is nothing objectionable in the census exercise per se, the joint forum appeals to all citizens to boycott the NPR and not answer the questions in the NPR questionnaire,” Bose told a news conference on Tuesday.