Left in limbo

The conduct of much-delayed census has become imperative for long-term targeted policy formation and implementation of the historic Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam; write Amal Chandra & Thirunavukarasu

The much-awaited first Union Budget after the 2024 General Elections has again disappointed those keenly interested in governance and public policy. The lack of adequate allocation for the population census, which should have been completed by 20202021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, raises serious concerns. The PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government, often criticised by opposition parties as a 'No-Data-Available' administration, has shown little interest in conducting the mandated exercise, even though life has returned to pre-COVID conditions.

The population enumeration exercise was introduced by the British in India in 1881 to understand the vast, diverse society by counting people, caste, linguistic groups, professions, etc.

The census provided comprehensive basic statistics on the state of human resources, demography, culture, and economic structure and also contained sensitive numbers of caste and linguistic groups among people. With such a detailed report, the British were able to rule the region for nearly two centuries. The report was instrumental in British national, military, and economic policy framing and decisions.

Post-Independence, the Government of India decided to avoid counting caste details but continued to enumerate SC/ ST populations to allocate their representation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, a practice later extended to Panchayati Raj seats. Since then, the Government of India and various state governments have relied on the population census for major decisions regarding reservations, linguistic matters, the upliftment of tribes and vulnerable groups, and economic planning. In 2011, the UPA government conducted a detailed Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), which counted each caste and their socio-economic status, but the data was not released due to reported methodological errors.