The decennial Census of 2021 has been pushed back yet again, and it is unlikely to begin until at least September 2023. On January 2, the Additional Registrar General of India informed states, without giving a reason, that the date for freezing administrative boundaries had been extended until June 30.
The Census can only begin three months after the boundaries have been frozen, and it will take at least 11 months to complete in its two phases. Thus, even if it started urgently in October this year, the possibility of it bearing fruit in 2023 or early 2024 is ruled out, as general elections are scheduled for March-April 2024.
The colonial administration conducted India's first proper or synchronous Census, one that began on the same day or year across the country, in 1881, and has since occurred every 10 years, with the exception of the one scheduled for 2021.
In two phases, lakhs of enumerators are appointed and trained by the government to conduct the decennial census. The first phase is the housing Census, which collects data on housing conditions, household amenities, and household assets, and the second phase collects data on population, education, religion, economic activity, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, language, literacy, migration, and fertility.
Between two consecutive censuses, the boundaries of administrative units like districts, sub-districts, tehsils, and police stations are frozen because state administrations frequently establish new districts, combine existing ones, or reorganise the ones that already exist.
The Census Act of 1948, which was passed before the Constitution, is still in effect today and governs the census. It's important to note that the Act does not require the government to conduct the Census on a specific date or to release its data within a specified window of time. On March 28, 2019, the Center announced its intention to conduct the 2021 Census in the Indian Gazette. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the administrative boundary freeze was scheduled to last from January 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021.
As a result of the census being postponed indefinitely in 2020 and numerous requests for permission from States to establish new units, the date of boundary freezing was initially extended until December 31, 2020. Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home, informed the Rajya Sabha on December 14, 2022, that the Census 2021 and the related field activities have been postponed until further orders due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused several nations to postpone their census efforts, but many of them, including the U.S., U.K., China, and Bangladesh, have now finished the count, according to UN statistics.
For a number of administrative tasks, welfare programmes, and other surveys, the Census data is essential. "The government should take a quick call and the delay is not good and has ramifications," according to former Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, as cited by The Hindu. Mr. Pillai explained one of the implications by stating that the Finance Commission allocates funds to States based on Census data and that any delay may disadvantage them.
In addition, out-of-date Census data, which is available from the 2011 Census, frequently loses its validity and has an impact on both those who do and do not benefit from welfare programmes. According to the National Food Security Act of 2013, which covers 67% of the country's population, 50% of urban residents and 75% of rural residents are eligible to receive government-subsidised food grains through the targeted public distribution system (PDS).?
Around 121 million people lived in India as of the 2011 Census, and 80 million were PDS recipients. However, according to economists Jean Dreze and Reetika Khera, population growth over the past ten years means that by 2020, when the projected population of 137 crore people is taken into account, PDS coverage should have reached 92 crore people.
The upcoming Census will also be the first to use paper schedules (questionnaires/forms) and a digital schedule. The Census Rules, created in 1990, were amended by the Union government in 2022 to enable self-enumeration by respondents as well as the capture and storage of information in electronic form. In December, the Home Ministry informed Parliament that mobile and web applications for data collection as well as a portal (CMMS) for management and monitoring of various Census-related activities had been created so far at a cost of 24.84 crore.