- The National Census undertaken from time to time provides the Union Government with an opportunity to accurately figure out the population of the country spread around a large swathe of the landscape. Also, it allows for the allocation of commensurate funds for carrying out various socio-welfare schemes/economic measures. Without the Census figures, the government authorities would be handicapped in extending the intended benefits to various categories of people, especially the lower strata of society. In the absence of accuracy in the population figures of the country, ideally enumerated by the Census, the government extending benefits would have been skewed with a considerable chunk missing out.
PC: Money control
- The opposition political parties were right in questioning the Union Government for delaying the process of initiating the Census. Thankfully, the Union Government has said that it has initiated the process for conducting the much-delayed Census now, with a formal announcement likely soon. Here, it must be mentioned that the Government of India should focus on conducting a thorough Census and not give in to caste census politics that is being bandied about by every political party. The announcement expected would hopefully bring down the curtains on the Waiting for Census play. Census 2021 is long behind schedule since the onset of the pandemic in 2020 was held up as the reason for the delay earlier.
- But, while national censuses were impacted by Covid globally, India is among just three countries, as per the UN Population Fund’s Global Census Tracker, where a fresh schedule for the exercise is yet to be announced. Even now, there’s no certainty when the latest Census findings will be released since it has taken 11 months in the past after the start of its first phase for the process to be completed. If there is a silver lining here, it is that India is going for its first digital Census, with there also being a provision for self-enumeration. The reliance on outdated 2011 Census figures by India has impacted vital data sets relating to health, demography, and economy, besides taking a toll on the quality of surveys by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), among others.
PC: The Hindu
- For instance, it is estimated that as many as 11cr Indians are being denied benefits under the Food Security Act since beneficiaries are still counted as per the 2011 Census. There is also the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies that can happen only after the Census is conducted. And linked to delimitation is the implementation of the landmark women’s reservation law. However, what evokes concern after the announcement is the government being open to a caste census. The change in its stance is a concession to electoral pressures, which saw opposition demand for a caste census gain traction in the 2024 LS elections. Pragmatically speaking, the Union Government should not yield to this demand despite political expediency. Let’s wait and watch.
