Latest news with #16thCensus
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Census 2027:Centre asks states to finalise administrative boundaries by Dec 31
New Delhi: The Centre has asked the states and union territories to make any proposed changes in the boundaries of administrative jurisdictions before December 31, 2025, when they will freeze for the Census-2027 exercise and the first phase of the decadal population count will begin on April 1 next year, according to a communication sent by the registrar general and census commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, on June 27. The Centre announced earlier this month that the 16th Census will finally be carried out after a gap of 16 years. (Representational image) The freezing means the states/UTs won't be able to change the boundaries of districts, towns, villages and tehsils post December 31. The Census can be conducted only three months after the freezing of boundary limits of administrative units. For the Census, all villages and towns are divided into uniform enumeration blocks and for each block, an enumerator is assigned to avoid any miss or repetition during the population count. 'From April 1, 2026, the Houselisting Operation, the appointment of supervisors and enumerators and the work division among them will be done, and on February 1, 2027, the Census of the population will begin. It is important that once enumeration blocks are finalised, boundaries of administrative units are not changed,' Narayan said in his letter to all the chief secretaries. He asked them to direct all the departments 'to make any proposed changes in the boundaries of municipal corporations, revenue villages, tehsils, sub-divisions or districts before December 31'. 'The states/UTs should ensure that no changes should be made in the boundaries of administrative units between January 1, 2026, and March 31, 2027, during which Census exercise will take place. Any changes in the existing boundaries must be intimated to Census directorates in the states and UTs and Registrar General of India by December 31, 2025. For Census 2027, boundaries of administrative units will be frozen on December 31, 2025,' the letter added. To ensure a fair workload for enumerators, an administrative unit is divided into manageable sections for the Census called 'blocks'. A block is a clearly defined area within a village or town on a notional map for census purposes. These are termed houselisting blocks (HLBs) during houselisting operations and enumeration blocks (EBs) during Population Enumeration (PE) and serve as the smallest administrative units for the Census. According to Narayan's letter, the houselisting operations for the Census will begin from April 1, 2026, marking the start of the first phase of the decennial exercise. 'Before that, the appointment of supervisors, enumerators and work distribution among them shall be done with cooperation from states and district administration,' the letter stated. The Centre announced earlier this month that the 16th Census will finally be carried out after a gap of 16 years. '....the Central government hereby declares that a census of the population of India shall be taken during the year 2027. The reference date for the said census shall be 00.00 hours of the 1st day of March, 2027, except for the union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand', said the notification issued by the Office of Registrar General of India or ORGI on June 16. The much-delayed Census, which will include caste enumeration, will be completed by March 1, 2027. Officials have said that while the data collection would be over by March 1, 2027, the entire exercise to collate the data and publish it will take two to three more years. On preparatory activities already done, officials said that all the states have already constituted Census Coordination Committees (CCCs) under the respective chief secretaries. 'As the Census exercise was originally to take place in 2020, ORGI had already written to states/UTs for forming CCCs in April 2019,' said an officer, adding that the committees have various departments like revenue, local administration, municipal corporations, rural development and panchayats, planning education, etc for conducting and monitoring different phases of Census. Also, the pre-test for Census - which is conducted prior to each Census encompassing all facets to check feasibility of all questions, methodologies, logistics arrangements, processing of data, etc - was also done in 2019. The ministry of home affairs has said that the 16th Census will see involvement of about 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors. Besides, it said, around 1.3 lakh Census functionaries would be deployed for the exercise. It also said that the upcoming census 'will be conducted through digital means using mobile applications' and 'provision of self-enumeration would also be made available to the people'. The 16th Census will be conducted in two phases. In phase one i.e. house-listing operation (HLO), the housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected. Subsequently, in the second phase i.e. population enumeration (PE), the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household will be collected.
India Gazette
18-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Congress's job is to raise questions": Sukanta Majumdar
Murshidabad (West Bengal) [India], June 18 (ANI): Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar made a strong statement on Tuesday regarding the caste census, accusing Congress and opposition parties of trying to delay the process. Speaking to ANI, Majumdar said, 'Congress's job is to raise questions, there is nothing new in this... The last census was done in 2011; now, the time has come for the census, and the caste census will be done.' He added that the government had already planned the programme and was moving ahead with it in a structured manner. 'Our government plans the programme for the country... Congress and the rest of the opposition want to postpone it by any means,' he said. His remarks came after the decision to issue a gazette notification for the 16th Census, with caste enumeration. On Monday, Sukanta Majumdar welcomed the decision to issue a gazette notification for the 16th Census with caste enumeration, and said that it will help the government in planning for the future. Sukanta Majumdar said, 'We welcome this decision. It was pending since long time. Census will start from March 1, 2027. It will help the government in planning for the future after getting the data of the census.' He alleged that CM Mamata Banerjee created an OBC-A category and gave reservations to Muslims. The central government notified the population census on Monday, the process of which will begin in March 2027. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday reviewed the preparations for the upcoming Census during a meeting in New Delhi along with Union Home Secretary, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG& CCI) and other senior officials. Sharing the details in a post on X, Amit Shah said, 'Reviewed the preparations for the 16th Census with senior officials. Tomorrow, the gazette notification of the census will be issued. The census will include caste enumeration for the first time. As many as 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh census functionaries will conduct the operation with cutting-edge mobile digital gadgets.' (ANI)
India Gazette
17-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Congress's job is to raise questions, there is nothing new": Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar on caste census
Murshidabad (West Bengal) [India], June 18 (ANI): Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar made a strong statement on Tuesday regarding the caste census, accusing Congress and opposition parties of trying to delay the process. Speaking to ANI, Majumdar said, 'Congress's job is to raise questions, there is nothing new in this... The last census was done in 2011; now, the time has come for the census, and the caste census will be done.' He added that the government had already planned the programme and was moving ahead with it in a structured manner. 'Our government plans the programme for the country... Congress and the rest of the opposition want to postpone it by any means,' he said. His remarks came after the decision to issue a gazette notification for the 16th Census, with caste enumeration. On Monday, Sukanta Majumdar welcomed the decision to issue a gazette notification for the 16th Census with caste enumeration, and said that it will help the government in planning for the future. Sukanta Majumdar said, 'We welcome this decision. It was pending since long time. Census will start from March 1, 2027. It will help the government in planning for the future after getting the data of the census.' He alleged that CM Mamata Banerjee created an OBC-A category and gave reservations to Muslims. The central government notified the population census on Monday, the process of which will begin in March 2027. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday reviewed the preparations for the upcoming Census during a meeting in New Delhi along with Union Home Secretary, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG& CCI) and other senior officials. Sharing the details in a post on X, Amit Shah said, 'Reviewed the preparations for the 16th Census with senior officials. Tomorrow, the gazette notification of the census will be issued. The census will include caste enumeration for the first time. As many as 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh census functionaries will conduct the operation with cutting-edge mobile digital gadgets.' (ANI)
India Gazette
16-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Complete absence of caste census in notification raises lots of doubts": Congress leader Supriya Shrinate
New Delhi [India], June 16 (ANI): Congress leader Supriya Shrinate on Monday said that complete 'absence' of the term caste census in the government's gazette notification issued for 16th Census has raised questions over the mindset of the BJP on this subject. Speaking to ANI, Shrinate recalled that the government had earlier promised that a caste census will conducted by them. 'Census is a decadal exercise and it has been delayed which is why people are not able to get the benefits of government schemes. This is a routine notification. There is no mention of the caste census here, a promise that the government said would be fulfilled on April 30,' Shrinate said. Asserting that BJP has always opposed the idea of caste-based reservations, Shrinate pointed out that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge have forced the government to conduct a caste census. 'BJP should be the last one talking about the SC/ST and OBC as they have historically been against the constitution... Pt. Nehru brought the first amendment to the constitution about reservation, but it was opposed by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee... RSS Chiefs opposed the reservations... This government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in September 2021 saying we are against the Caste Census,' she said. Earlier today, Congress General Secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi over 'no mention' of caste census in the gazette notification for the population census by the Ministry of Home Affairs, asking, 'Has the Prime Minister changed his mind?' 'Today's gazette notification says only census will be done in late October of 2026 in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal and the rest of the country it will be done in March 2027. It does not talk of the word caste census. So my question is, has the Prime Minister changed his mind again? Why is there no mention of the caste census?' the senior Congress leader said while speaking to ANI. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a notification on Monday announcing that the 16th census will be carried out in snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand from October 2026 and the rest of the country from March 2027. 'In exercise of the powers conferred by Section three of the Census Act 1948 and in suppression of the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs dated March 26, 2018, the Central Government declared that a census of the population of India shall be taken during the year 2027,' the MHA notification read. The reference date for the census shall be March 1, 2027, except for the Union territory of Ladakh and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. On April 30, Union Minister Ashiwni Vaishnaw announced that the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided to include caste enumeration in the general census. (ANI)
India Gazette
16-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
Sukanta Majumdar welcomes decision to issue gazette notification for Census with caste enumeration
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 16 (ANI): Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar welcomed the decision to issue a gazette notification for the 16th Census with caste enumeration, and said that it will help the government in planning for the future. Sukanta Majumdar said, 'We welcome this decision. It was pending since long time. Census will start from March 1, 2027. It will help the government in planning for the future after getting the data of the census.' He alleged that CM Mamata Banerjee created an OBC-A category and gave reservation to Muslims. 'It is not a reservation on the basis of caste. It is a reservation based on religion. You cannot give a reservation on the basis of being Muslim because it is anti-Constitutional. So from back door Muslim reservation is being given. Karnataka tried to do it, which is anti-Constitutional. Mamata Banerjee had to give reservation to Muslims for vote bank so she is doing it from backdoor. In Bengal, there is 17 per cent reservation for OBC. Why is it not being increased when it is 27 per cent in the country? She is depriving the OBC and giving it to Muslims,' he added. The Central government on Monday notified the population census, the process of which will begin in March 2027. As per a gazette notification released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 'In exercise of the powers conferred by Section three of the Census Act 1948 and in suppression of the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs dated March 26, 2018, the Central Government declared that a census of the population of India shall be taken during the year 2027, as per a circular released by the Ministry of Home Affairs.' The reference date for the census shall be March 1, 2027, except for the Union territory of Ladakh and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The reference date for the Union Territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be October 1, 2026. On June 15, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the preparations for the upcoming Census during a meeting in New Delhi along with Union Home Secretary, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG& CCI) and other senior officials. Sharing the details in a post on X, Amit Shah said, 'Reviewed the preparations for the 16th Census with senior officials. Tomorrow, the gazette notification of the census will be issued. The census will include caste enumeration for the first time. As many as 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh census functionaries will conduct the operation with cutting-edge mobile digital gadgets.' 'The Census will be conducted in two phases. In phase 1, House Listing Operation (HLO), the housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected,' he added. Subsequently, in the second phase, Population Enumeration (PE), the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household will be collected. In the Census, Caste enumeration will also be done. For Census activities, about 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh Census functionaries would be deployed. This is the 16th Census since its beginning and the 8ht since Independence. (ANI)
