- Prelims: Census, The Census Act, 1948, NPR, National Register of Citizens (NRC) etc
- Mains GS Paper I and II: Government policies and interventions for development of various sectors and issues arising out of them etc
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- The Budget 2024-25 recently allocated ₹1,309.46 crore for the Census, a significant reduction from 2021-22 when ₹3,768 crore was allocated for the decadal exercise.
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
Census:
- The census provides information on size, distribution and socio-economic, demographic and other characteristics of the country’s population.
- The Census was first started under British Viceroy Lord Mayo in 1872.
- It helped in framing new policies, government programs to uplift areas of improvement in the community.
- The first synchronous census in India was held in 1881.
- Every ten years: Since then, censuses have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years.
Who conducts the census?
- The responsibility of conducting the decennial Census rests with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
The Census is one of the most credible sources of information on the following:
- Economic Activity.
- Literacy and Education.
- Housing & Household Amenities.
- Urbanization, Fertility, and Mortality.
- Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Census in India:
- India’s first Census was held in 1872, conducted non-synchronously in different parts of the country.
- After that, India has held its decadal censuses regularly from 1881 to 2011.
Issues due to absence of a Census after 2011:
- A majority of our country’s population is unable to access several schemes, benefits and services.
- The implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act passed in the Parliament last year, reserving 33% of seats in Parliament and Assemblies for women, awaits the conduct of the Census.
Steps taken so far:
- Sufficient provisions are made in the 2025-26 Census Budget so that the 2021 Census that has been postponed could be held at the earliest
- It will include house listing and housing census and updating of the National Population Register (NPR).
- The preliminary arrangements for the Census, such as
- preparing updated maps and lists of administrative areas
- pre-testing draft Census questionnaires
- training of officers and core staff, who would train the large number of field staff in collecting the Census data digitally
- e., on mobile app, planning the field work, logistics, budgeting
- It has taken place in the Census Directorates in States and Union Territories for the past few years in anticipation of putting through a Census.
Budgetary allocation for census:
- The amount of ₹1,309.46 crore allocated in the 2024-25 budget could be utilized by the Census department to carry out several preliminary activities such as
- firming up of the enumeration areas
- questionnaire finalization
- refresher training of the core staff in the proposed digital census
- tabulation plan.
National Population Register(NPR):
- NPR gives details of persons usually residing in villages and towns and other rural and urban areas
- It was first prepared in 2010 during the Houselisting and Housing Census phase of Census 2011.
- It was updated in 2015 incorporating changes due to birth, death and migration.
- This process was put through under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
- The NPR would be updated again during the House listing and Housing Census Operations (Phase 1) of the forthcoming Census.
- The draft form of the NPR for the next Census has questions such as “mother tongue, place of birth of father and mother and last place of residence”
- They were not in the NPR of 2011 Census prepared in 2010.
- NPR is the first step toward compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), according to the Citizenship Rules 2003.
Way Forward
- The Constitution (Eighty fourth Amendment) Act of 2001 was specifically made so as not to have delimitation of the constituencies till the first Census conducted after 2026.
- Census reference date should be announced soon, with the new deadline for the freezing of the boundaries of the administrative units by the State governments and Union Territory administration.
- There is growing demand for a caste-based census to be conducted by the Centre to precisely understand the economic well-being of the marginalized communities.
- Affidavit filed in the Supreme Court of India on September 23, 2021: Government stated that a caste census (except that for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes done traditionally) was unfeasible, and “administratively difficult and cumbersome”.
- Justice Rohini Commission: A nationwide socio-economic caste census is necessary to evolve scientific criteria for such sub-categorisation.
- This would also be necessary for all States, which have their own State-level OBC lists, given the wide variety in caste composition.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
Discuss the main objectives of Population Education and point out the measures to achieve them in India in detail.(UPSC 2021) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)
