Latest news with #Census-2027
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.
Hindustan Times
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Govt issues notification for Census; pre-test done, apps developed
New Delhi: The Centre on Monday issued a notification for conducting 16th Census, thereby formally initiating the preparatory work for the largest population counting exercise 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. 'In respect of the UT of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date shall be 00:00 hours of the 1st day of October, 2026,' it added. Customarily, once a gazette notification for intent of conducting Census is issued, there are various preparatory areas on which detailed discussions take place, including with data users, training of enumerators, etc but officials familiar with upcoming Census said 'most of these activities have already been completed since between 2021 and now'. The government had, last week, announced that the much-delayed Census exercise, 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 pre-test for Census 2021, which will now be called Census-2027, was conducted in 2019 in all 36 states/UTs across 76 districts in 90 areas (54 rural and 36 urban) covering a population of 26 lakh, in which around 6,000 enumerators and 1,100 supervisors from respective states/UTs were involved in data collection and supervision,' said a second officer cited above. The ministry of home affairs said on Sunday 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'. Like all previous Censuses, the latest Census also has a technical advisory committee (TAC) to advise on all technical issues related to the decadal exercise. The members of TAC are mainly former Census commissioners, former deputy registrar generals of ORGI, former director of Census Operations, representatives of state governments and from ministries concerned, eminent demographers, and experts from selected institutions. The second officer cited above said the TAC held its first meeting on January 30, 2019 itself to discuss preparedness, suggestions to stakeholders, pilot test and data collection method. Its second and third meetings took place in September 2019 and December 2021, respectively. 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. A third officer said that for the upcoming Census exercise, two separate mobile applications and a web portal have been developed for data collection along with its monitoring on real or near-real time basis. 'The mobile apps have been developed in English and 15 regional languages as per requirement of different states,' he said. The Census portal developed by ORGI is named as Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) and is for Census functionaries to monitor and manage every activity such as training, work allocation, logistics, real-time progress of work, online data entry etc. Earlier, on Sunday, Union home minister Amit Shah had reviewed the preparations for the Census. The ministry of home affairs said after the meeting that the Census will have the option of self-enumeration by residents. The ORGI has already developed a web-based portal called Self Enumeration (SE) Portal, which allows the respondents to view and update the information of their households members. The SE portal, according to officials, will be closed for changes, a few days prior to the census exercise start date. The objective of the portal is to digitize the process of capturing the census data, as the respondents can update the details of their family members online without the help of an enumerator. The SE portal will be accessible with authentication based on pre-filled information available with the ORGI and a one-time password (OTP) sent to the registered mobile number(s). The respondent will be allowed to change the family details, and add new family members and those family members who are not part of the household shall be marked as moved-out or died, said an officer explaining the process. The MHA also said on Sunday that 'very stringent data security measures would be kept in place to ensure data security at the time of collection, transmission and storage (for Census)'. On data security, the first officer cited above said 'for data capture and processing, three main data-centres have been set-up and existing 18 data capture centres (DCCs) have been upgraded'. 'These data centres are properly secured using the state-of-the-art technology including next generation firewall, DDoS protection, patch management, end point protection, web application firewall, etc. There are dedicated security analysts and engineers to monitor potential security threats,' he said. The Census forms an important node of policy making in India as it is the principal source of official socioeconomic and demographic data that forms the basis for government schemes, policies, and planning. But the 2027 census has assumed more importance because it is being held after a decade-and-a-half and will also officially confirm India's status as the world's most-populous nation. It will enumerate caste for the first time since the 1931 census, a politically explosive exercise that will have sweeping socioeconomic ramifications and lead to an expansion of caste-based quotas in jobs and education, likely breaching the 50% mark mandated in a landmark 1992 Supreme Court judgment. The census will also be the basis for conducting the delimitation exercise for Lok Sabha seats, another controversial process that threatens to drive a wedge between northern and southern India, as well as usher in the reservation of a third of all seats in national and state legislatures for women.
Indian Express
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Census is welcome – it has to be about more than stats
In the recent past, the Centre has taken several steps to fill the gaps in data availability in the country. For instance, it has conducted two rounds of household consumption expenditure surveys for 2022-23 and 2023-24 which provide granular data on household spending patterns, and also allow for the estimation of poverty and inequality in the country. The government has also announced that the revamped sample design of the labour force surveys will allow for the generation of monthly estimates of key labour market indicators, which will aid policymaking. On Wednesday, it took another step, announcing the dates for the much delayed Census. This is a welcome development. The Census 2021 had been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has not been conducted since. This had meant that the last Census conducted provided estimates of India's population as of March 2011. Considering that timely and accurate data forms the basis of policy making, the continuing absence of the Census data has only hindered policymaking in the country. The Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases. As per a report in this paper, the household listing phase is likely to begin by March-April 2026, while the enumeration exercise will take place over 21 days in February 2027. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, 'the reference date for population Census-2027 will be 00:00 hours of the first day of March, 2027'. For the UT of Ladakh and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00.00 hours of the first day of October, 2026. Alongside, the exercise will also involve the enumeration of castes. This will be the first time since 1931 that the Census will gather detailed data on caste beyond Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. But, the announcement of the Census has also raised questions on the possibility of delimitation — the process of reconfiguring the Lok Sabha and state assembly seats — and the implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament. In addition to providing population estimates, the Census also collects data on several household socio-economic indicators. This provides vital information on the changes in the country over the decades. Alongside, the Census data is also used in various surveys, and by both government agencies and private entities in the formulation of policies and strategies. It thus serves an invaluable purpose, aiding policy making in India.
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Business Standard
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Delimitation concerns will be discussed at an appropriate time: MHA
A day after it announced the schedule for conducting Census-2027, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday said the concerns of southern states about the delimitation exercise, which will take place on the basis of the census data, will be taken care of and discussed with all concerned at an appropriate time. In a series of posts on 'X', the MHA said budget allocation has never been a constraint for conducting the census, as funds are always ensured by the government. The entire 2021 Census exercise was estimated to cost the government over ₹13,000 crore. The Budget for 2025–26 allocated ₹574.80 crore for census surveys and statistics / the Registrar General of India (RGI). The MHA did not explicitly state whether the census data could be available in time for a delimitation commission to decide on the number of seats in the Lok Sabha before the 2029 polls. However, the ministry alluded to Home Minister Amit Shah's earlier statements on the delimitation exercise. It stated that Shah has 'clarified on many occasions that in the delimitation exercise the concerns of southern states will be taken care of and discussed with all concerned at an appropriate time'. The delimitation of constituencies for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies is to be carried out on the basis of the first Census after 2026. It will also be the basis for reserving a third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. Tamil Nadu, and other southern states such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana, fear that the delimitation exercise, if conducted solely on the basis of population, would diminish their political representation in Parliament. Some of the southern states have demanded a freeze on the number of Lok Sabha seats, based on the 1971 Census, for another 25 years. The provisional data for the 2011 Census was released on 31 March 2011, 25 days after its population enumeration phase ended, while the final data was released two years later on 30 April 2013. The MHA also defended the delay in holding the Census exercise. It said Census 2021 was to be conducted and all preparations were completed. However, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic across the country, the Census work was postponed. The aftershock of Covid-19 continued for quite some time, it said. The ministry said Covid-19 disrupted all sectors including education. It said around 3 million enumerators are needed for the Census. Enumerators, who are primary school teachers, are key persons for conducting the Census. Conducting the Census after Covid could have disrupted primary education immensely, the MHA said. The MHA also pointed out that countries which conducted the Census immediately after Covid-19 faced issues regarding the quality and coverage of Census data. It said the government has decided to commence the process of Census forthwith, which will complete on 1 March 2027 — the reference date for the Census. The Centre on Wednesday said Census-2027, with caste enumeration, will be undertaken in two phases across the country. It will be completed by 1 October 2026 in snow-bound and hilly areas like Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and by 1 March 2027 in the rest of the country. The reference date for the headcount will be 12 am on 1 March 2027 for the rest of the country.
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Business Standard
04-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Census 2027 to start from October next yr; to be conducted in two phases
The Centre on Wednesday said that Census-2027 with caste enumeration would be undertaken in two phases across the country, from October 1, 2026 in snow-bound and hilly areas like Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and from March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country. The reference date of people's headcount would be March 1, 2027, midnight for the entire country. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) statement on conducting Census 2027, which will also be the first digital Census, has come a little over a month after the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), on April 30, approved caste enumeration in the forthcoming population census. Caste data was enumerated the last time as part of the 1931 Census, and was collected as part of the Socio-Economic Caste Census in 2011 but the data was not released because of infirmities. The last Census was held 16 years ago in 2011. The 2021 Census was initially delayed because of the outbreak of Covid-19. In 2023, the UN Population Fund had said India was likely to have almost three million more people than China by the middle of that year. The Census will also have a bearing on the delimitation of the Lok Sabha seats and one-third reservation for women in directly elected legislatures. However, it is not clear whether the Census data will be available by the time the next Lok Sabha polls are announced. The provisional data for the 2011 Census was released on March 31, 2011, 25 days after its population enumeration phase ended, while the final data was released two years later on April 30, 2013. Some of the southern states have demanded a freeze on the number of Lok Sabha seats, based on the 1971 Census, for another 25 years. The notification for the intent of conducting the population Census with these reference dates would be published in the official gazette "tentatively' on June 16, 2025 as per provision of Section 3 of Census Act 1948, it said. Officials said the second and final phase of the census would begin in February 2027 and conclude on March 1, 2027 (reference date). On December 24, 2019, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved conducting Census 2021 at a cost of ₹8,754.23 crore and updating of the National Population Register (NPR) at a cost of ₹3,941.35 crore. It was, however, unclear whether Census 2027 would include updating of the NPR. The entire 2021 Census exercise was estimated to cost the government over ₹13,000 crore. The Budget for 2025-26 allocated ₹574.80 crore for Census surveys and statistics/the Registrar General of India (RGI). In a post on X, Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said, "There is really no reason to delay the Census that was due in 2021, for another 23 months. The Modi Government is capable only of generating headlines, not meeting deadlines." According to the government statement on December 24, 2019, the 2021 Census was to comprise 'House listing and Housing Census from April to September, 2020, and Population Enumeration from February 9 to February 28, 2021'. It said that the NPR would also be updated along with House listing and Housing Census except in Assam. As many as 3 million field functionaries were to conduct the exercise, up from 2.8 million in 2011. It had envisaged use of a mobile app for data collection and the central portal for monitoring purpose, and to ensure early release of Census data with improved quality. It had said that 2.4 crore man-days employment would be generated during the collection of the data. The Census process involves visiting each and every household and canvassing separate questionnaire for House listing and Housing Census & Population Enumeration. The enumerators are generally government teachers and appointed by the state governments. A government functionary said the budget was a minor issue and could be sorted out. According to Article 246 of the Constitution, Census was a subject listed at 69 in the Union List in the Seventh Schedule. While some states had conducted surveys to enumerate castes, these surveys had varied in transparency and intent, with some conducted purely from a "political angle, creating doubts in society", the government had said on April 30. The Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990 provide the legal framework for conduct of Census.
