West Bengal skipped a meeting convened on Friday to discuss the upcoming Census and National Population Register (NPR) exercises with the states for their cooperation.

West Bengal government in a written communication to the Ministry of Home Affairs had informed that it will not be present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, all other states have agreed to participate in the conference of state chief secretaries and directors to discuss the modalities of the Census and NPR beginning April 1, and they are on board.

Earlier in the day, Principal Secretary (General Administration Department, Kerala) KR Jyothilal, had informed that Kerala will attend the meeting called by the Ministry of Home Affairs to discuss census, NPR and seek suggestions on training and appointment process for Census and National Population Register.

The meeting is being chaired by Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai and Union Home Secretary AK Bhalla. Registrar General of India (RGI) Vivek Joshi is present along with chief secretaries and census directors of all states and Union Territories, among others.

The meeting will also help the Central Government seek suggestions from state representatives on the NPR. The appointment, training of census officials in-charge, district officers and sub-divisional level officers are expected to be discussed in detail.

The conference comes amid reservations expressed by some states against NPR, citing its link with National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Amid nationwide tension and massive protests against the Citizenship Act, West Bengal and Kerala governments have reportedly stopped work on NPR.

The NPR, since it is linked to the Census, is seen as the first step towards a nationwide exercise to implement the National Register of Citizens.

Under the NPR, a census will be conducted from house to house across the country from April 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020, in all the states/union territories, except Assam. Then, Population Enumeration will be conducted from February 9 to February 28, 2021.

On December 24, last year, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Rs 8,500 crore for updating the NPR.

Informing on the same, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar had stated that the process is “self-declaratory and requires no document as proof”.