- The clamouring for the census to be carried out was becoming shriller by the day from the political class, especially the opposition ranks led by the Grand Old Party, ostensibly championing the cause of the backward classes. Of course, people familiar with the political churning in the country would know how some of the regional parties exist solely based on the labyrinthine caste conundrum, which is muddied at the best of times. The two national parties, viz. the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, are not exempt from keeping this extremely crucial segment away for too long. Mind you, the census was postponed due to the debilitating pandemic, but could not be pushed any longer. Hence, the Union Government announced a fresh census in line with the demand.
PC: Orissa Post
- After a seven-year delay, the census 2027 has been notified now, and this will be India’s first digital census. The registrar general’s work resumes in earnest. About 33 cr households and 136 cr people will be counted by over 30L enumerators in about 24L enumeration books, each comprising around 800 people, per media report. Household listing – the first of a two-part exercise – can be expected by about Sept 2026, about six months before the population count, if traditional time frames are observed. Much of the discussion on how crucial this exercise is has revolved around political events to follow, delimitation, and women’s reservation. But before we reach those destinations, it’s the changes in the journey itself, including additional questions on caste, that make this census a whole new ballgame – if all goes as announced so far.
- Not least among these changes are the amendments to the census rules, 1990, notified on 11th March 2022. The amendment said that information would be collected in paper form or in an electronic form and can be canvassed in the said modes including through self-enumeration. Therein lies the catch. For the uninitiated, electronic form is defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000. And self-enumeration means filling out, completing, and submitting the census schedule by respondents themselves. These can be a huge challenge in themselves. While the recent notification has no details, it is expected that the data collection will be digital, and the enumerators will use tablets. Self-enumeration will be via apps. Will it be effective here?
PC: Ruralvoice
- It’s all hypothetical now. Some will be junked, some fine-tuned and tweaked. Glitches will be fixed after multiple pilots. What we know is that perhaps the logistics may be under control – the 2021 census was to be in the hybrid mode. Coding on caste and its enumeration won’t be a problem once political thinking is clear on what to ask. It is self-enumeration, again, hypothetical presently, that’s causing concern. Mind you, self-enumeration can be proposed in metros, with limited digital literacy, with several challenges bound to plague the enumeration itself. We are dodgy in filling up physical forms, let alone digital. There’s a reason why trained enumerators do the job, and they alone should be entrusted to undertake the most important assignment.
