With new date to fix boundaries, Census unlikely before polls

  • July 2, 2023
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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With new date to fix boundaries, Census unlikely before polls

Subject :Polity

Section: msc

Concept :

  • The deadline to freeze the administrative boundaries of districts, tehsils and towns, among others, has been extended till December 31, ruling out the Census exercise before the 2024 General Elections.
  • The decennial Census exercise that was to be conducted in 2021 was postponed indefinitely, initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest order does not specify any reason.

About Census

  • Population Census is the total 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 part of a country.
  • Census is the basis for reviewing the country’s progress in the past decade, monitoring the ongoing schemes of the government and plan for the future.
  • It provides an instantaneous photographic picture of a community, which is valid at a particular moment of time.

Phases: The Census Operations in India are carried out in two phases:

  • Houselisting/Housing Census under which details of all buildings, permanent or temporary, are noted with their type, amenities, and assets.
  • Population Enumeration where more detailed information on each individual residing in the country, Indian national or otherwise is noted.
  • It is carried out after making a list of all households that are surveyed.

Frequency:

  • The first synchronous decadal census was taken in 1881, by W.C. Plowden, Census Commissioner of India. Since then, censuses have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years.
  • The Census of India Act of 1948 provides the legal framework for carrying out the Census however, it does not mention its timing or periodicity.
  • Hence, a Census is Constitutionally mandated in India but there is no Constitutional or legal requirement that it needs to be conducted decennially.
  • The 10-year frequency is followed in many countries (Ex. the US and the UK) but some countries like Australia, Canada, Japan conduct it every five years.

Nodal Ministry:

  • The decennial Census is conducted by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs.
  • Until 1951, the Census Organization was set up on an ad-hoc basis for each Census.
Census unlikely before polls Polity