The 2021 Census that was to begin in 2020 has yet again been delayed. Early this January, the Registrar General of India said the deadline for freezing administrative boundaries has been extended to June 30, 2023. For the last 152 years, India has never before seen a delay in its Census. The first official Census ever held was in 1872 and the synchronous Census began in 1881. Since then, there has been no disruption even through World War II (1942), the war with China (1961) or the Bangladesh Liberation war (1971). But the ‘first digital’ census is still to see the light of day, and due to no clarity might only be enumerated after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Why is a Census so important? Census is a trove of information ranging from households, education, migration, healthcare, food supply, amenities, religion, urbanisation, poverty, language, fertility, literacy rates, birth and death rates, disability, demographic data such as age, sex, marital status, income, occupation and other socio-economic factors. A preconceived view in our minds usually refers to the census as a means to calculate the population, but on the other hand it contains so much more than that. Statistical data is a real treasure of data for demographers, anthropologists, policy-makers, economists, statisticians, administrators, etc. A Census is thus the largest repository of the nation’s population.
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The census is conducted once every decade by hundreds of thousands of enumerators who visit every household of the country to gather information. The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has the responsibility of conducting the decadal data study.
Initially, the 2021 census was to kick-start in 2020, but due to the Covid- outbreak and other reasons it was stalled, one of the many reasons being the link between the National Population Register and Citizen Register to the Census. This move was taken to facilitate the Citizens Register in view of the CAA 2019, but unfortunately several States declined to prepare the National Register of Citizen ultimately affecting the Census. Some States, including Maharashtra, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh demanded for caste to be included in the Census, which could lead to other complications and reservations for other such classes.
The consequences of delaying a Census for more than three years are extensive. Firstly, it is the only data that captures down to every village. This data is valuable as government welfare schemes depend on the population and other factors of such villages. This could affect the lives of crores of people, who are excluded from their entitlements.
Surveys such as National Family Health Survey, National Sample Survey which are crucial for the welfare of the country are largely affected. Policy formulation for State and Central governments depend on the Census data. It is only after the population of those entitled for subsidies and benefits are demarcated that such decisions can be made.
But politically, the Census is a test for the BJP government’s schemes and initiatives. The right-wing government has been ruling for nearly a decade (in 2024) and exposing their progress through the Census could be a blow to their future campaign. Development in rural areas especially whether each household has toilet provisions or whether there has been extensive progress in education among girls would be evident through the census. Similarly, data of unemployed citizens especially youth in the country would prove the BJP government’s campaign true or false.
