The project to create a National Population Register (NPR) is likely to be completed in next two years, Home Ministry said on Friday.

Under the NPR project, the demographic data of more than a billion people has been collected through a house-to-house enumeration. The scanning of all the filled-in NPR schedules has been completed and details required for the NPR has been collected.

The work of creation of the digital database and collection of biometrics was now going on. The data entry (in English and Regional language) of more than 54 crore persons has been completed till date, a Ministry official said in a statement.

The whole work is expected to be completed by mid 2013.

The biometrics details of more than 1.4 crore persons has been collected and the entire enrolment is also expected to be completed by mid 2013.

The NPR database, consisting of demographic and biometric data, would be sent to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for de-duplication and issue of UID Numbers (Aadhaar).

The government is also considering a proposal of issuing Resident Identity Cards bearing the Aadhar numbers to all residents who are of age 18 years and above to help in the e-governance initiatives," the statement said.

This would be helpful in the e-governance initiatives, that are contemplated based on the Aadhaar platform.

The first phase of the scheme is under implementation in 3,331 coastal villages and Port Blair Town (Andaman and Nicobar Islands) in 13 coastal States/Union Territories.

Planning commission has given in principal clearance to roll out the scheme in the rest of the country.