Why in News?
- Recently, the union government has extended the date for states and Union territories to finalise their administrative boundaries by June 2023, which may delay the Census 2021 Exercise.
- During a Census operation– both the house-listing phase and the population enumeration, the States and Union territories are not supposed to alter the boundaries of districts, towns, villages and tehsils.
Implications of Delay-
- Affect Political Representation- Census data is used to determine the number of seats to be reserved for SCs and STs in Parliament, State legislatures, local bodies, and government services.
- So, delay in the Census means that the data from the 2011 Census would continue to be used.
- In various towns and panchayats that have seen quick changes in the composition of their population over the last decade, this would mean that either too many or too few seats are being reserved.
- Delimitation of Of Constituency- Delimitation of parliamentary and Assembly constituencies would continue to be based on 2001 Census till data from a Census after 2026 are published.
- Unreliable Estimates on Welfare Measures- The delay will adversely impact government schemes and programmes, and would result in unreliable estimates from other surveys on consumption, health and employment, which depend on census data to determine policy and welfare measures.
- Approx. 100 million people are likely being excluded from the government’s food subsidy programme like the Public Distribution System (PDS), as the population figures used to assess the number of beneficiaries are from the 2011 census.
- Impact House-listing- It takes nearly a year to form an abridged house list for the entire country which the enumerator uses to locate an address.
- The key purpose of the house-listing is to prepare a list of all households that are to be surveyed before undertaking population enumeration, besides providing data on housing stock, amenities and the assets available with each of the households.
- Migration- The images of migrant workers rushing out of the cities and walking the highways towards their villages during the first COVID lockdown brought their plight to the spotlight and raised queries on the numbers, causes and patterns of migration, which could not be answered using old 2011 Census data.
- For instance, the government had no answers on how many migrants were likely to be stranded in each city or State and in need of food relief or transport support.
- The new Census is likely to represent the extent of the observed movement in migration trends towards smaller two-tier towns apart from the large metropolitan centres.
About Census-
- Population Census is the entire process of collecting, compiling, analyzing and disseminating demographic, economic and social data pertaining, at a specific time, of all persons in a country or a well-defined region of a country.
- Census is the basis for reviewing the country’s progress in the past decade, monitoring the current schemes of the government and plan for the future.
- It provides a detailed photographic picture of a community, which is valid at a particular moment of time.
- The census also provides the trends in population characteristics.
- The exercise is undertaken every 10 years in India.
- The 1st complete census of an Indian city was carried out in 1830 by Henry Walter (known as the father of the Indian Census) in Dacca.
- The First non-synchronous Census was conducted in India in 1872 during Governor-General Lord Mayo.
- The first synchronous census was taken in 1881, by W.C. Plowden (Census Commissioner of India). Since then, censuses have been undertaken continuously once every ten years.
- Other Countries- Every 10 years in several countries (for ex. United States and Britain) and every five years (for ex. Canada, Japan) or at irregular intervals in some countries.
- Nodal Ministry- The decennial Census is conducted by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- Until 1951, the Census Organisation was establishing on an ad-hoc basis for each Census.
- Constitutional Backing- Census is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948. Under Article 246 of India Constitution the population census is a Union subject.
Significance of the Census-
- Source of Information- It is the largest single source of a variety of statistical information on different characteristics of the people of India.
- Researchers and Demographers use census data to study growth and trends of population and make projections.
- Good Governance- The data collected through the census is used for administration, planning and policy making along with management and evaluation of several programmes by the Government.
- Better Access for Businesses- The census data is also significant for business houses and industries for reinforcing and planning their business for penetration into areas, which had hitherto remained, uncovered.
- Giving Grants- The Finance Commission (FC) recommends grants to the states on the basis of population figures available from the Census data.