Report by Swasti Sharma
Census is the official count of people. In India, this exercise is carried out every 10 years. The responsibility of conducting the decadal census rests with the office of Registrar General of India (RGI) and Census Commissioner of India, Ministry of Home affairs.
Population census is listed in the Union list (It contains 97 subjects. This list deals with the national issues) of the 7th Schedule of the Indian constitution under article 246. It is conducted under the provisions of Census Act, 1948.
Process of census enumeration (count)
Census takes place in two phases – Housing Census and Population Enumeration.
First, the Housing Census is conducted, followed by Population Enumeration.
Population enumeration is done about six to eight months after the Housing Census. In this phase, each person is counted and his/ her individual particulars like age, marital status, religion etc. are recorded.
The last official Census of India took place in 2011.
According to the rule, the next Census should have taken place in 2021. That could not be done because of the Covid 19 pandemic.
However, recently, the Central Government informed all states and union territories that the Census exercise has been again postponed till September 2023.
As per the norms, census can be conducted only 3 months after the freezing of boundary limits of administrative units like districts, sub districts, tehsils, etc. So, the date of freezing administrative boundaries is also postponed to 30th June 2023. In the letter to the States and UTs, RGI has mentioned Covid-19 as reason for extending the deadline.
Caste Census in Bihar
This time, the government of Bihar, led by Mr. Nitish Kumar, has approved caste census.
Its first phase includes counting of all the people residing in Bihar. This phase has started on 7th January 2023 and will end on 21st January 2023.
The second phase will start on April 1 and end on April 30, 2023. In the second phase, information about an individual’s caste, sub castes, economic status, social condition, exposure to government welfare schemes, etc. will be collected. This will help the government in better implementation of welfare schemes to socially and economically backward classes of Bihar.
2011 Census Data
A Census report gives a lot of valuable information. You can read the reports of the previous Census – 2011 – here.
Trivia
- The first synchronous Census of India took place in 1881 by W.C Plowden, the then Census Commissioner of India.
- The first non-synchronous (not conducted at the same time) Census occurred in 1872 (in India)
- The current RGI is Shri Vivek Joshi.