2021 Census of India

2021 Census of India

Subject :Polity

The 2021 Census of India, also the 16th Indian Census, is intended to be carried out in 2023. In April 2019, a data user conference was held and it was announced that 330,000 enumerators would be enlisted and that they would be encouraged to use their own smart phones, although a paper option will also be available, which the enumerators will then need to submit electronically.

The 15th Indian Census taken in 2011, attempted to estimate the population based on Socio-Economic and Caste Status for the first time since 1931. However, as the enumeration was based on recording the respondents’ declaration, it led to creation of hundreds of thousands of caste/subcaste categories.

For the 16th Indian census, the government is instead considering enumeration based on a list of educationally or socially disadvantaged castes (known as Other Backward Class) reported by each state. However, in February 2020, the Indian government rejected the demand for OBC data as part of the 2021 census.

History

• The first Census in India was conducted during a span of 8 years, starting from 1865 and ending in 1872. This was done non-synchronously in various parts of India. As the process reached its final point in 1872, this year has been labelled as the first Indian population census year. However, in India, the first synchronous population census was held in the year 1881.
• The last Census in India was held in 2011. This happened to be the 15th Indian Census. This included two phases, namely, the house listing and the population enumeration. According to the 2011 census, Uttar Pradesh was found to be the most populated state in India. It had a population count of 199,812,341, covering 16.51% of the overall Indian population.
• In this Census, Sikkim was found to be the least populated state in India, with a population count of 610,577, covering 0.05% of the overall Indian population.

Caste Census : The Need for More data for better targeted welfare policy

• While in the case of the Dalits and the STs, the quotas are proportionate to their population as gathered in census exercises conducted every 10 years, the reservation for OBCs is not based on their share in the population of India.
• OBC quota was fixed at 27 per cent as it was the available space to keep the reservation cap at 50 per cent. The Mandal Commission had estimated the OBC population at 52 per cent.
• The parties demanding caste census claim that so-called upper castes have occupied disproportionate share in jobs and access to higher education.
• India is a parliamentary democracy which means a form of government in which political control is exercised by all the people, either directly or through their elected representatives.
• When we Say all the people it should include so far as possible all the section of society reflecting the social reality of a country. If a democracy is being run by only few homogenous group of people, then it is not a democracy rather it is an oligarchy.
• The last caste census data gathered and published corresponds to Census 1931. The last census conducted by the British colonial government in 1941 collected caste data but did not publish the figures. After Independence, Census 1951, the government collected and published caste data of only SCs and STs.
• the Narendra Modi government told the supreme court that the policy of caste census was reversed in 1951 by the first government of Independent India headed by Jawaharlal Nehru.
• However, the Manmohan Singh government decided to collect caste date in Census 2011 as part of Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) but the data was never released.

WHY CASTE CENSUS IS IMPORTANT?

• The absence of fresh caste census data means that the caste estimates of 1931 are being projected for formulating welfare policies in 2021. A caste census is likely to table a fresh and updated data set for policymaking.
• The NSSO (National Sample Survey Organisation) surveys have provided different estimates between 1999 and 2007, varying from about 36 per cent to 45 per cent for OBCs.