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Mahesh

31/12/23 07:04 AM IST

Census to be delayed till at least October 2024

In News
  • The deadline to freeze the administrative boundaries of districts, tehsils, towns, and municipal bodies, among others, has been extended till June 30, 2024.
About Census
  • Census collects population data that is crucial to planning and development, and the exercise is rarely devoid of political intent or consequence.
  • India has conducted the Census every 10 years since 1881, but in 2020, the decennial exercise for the 2021 Census had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The proposed 33% reservation for women in Parliament and Assemblies is linked to the next Census and delimitation.
  • The next one will also be the first digital census giving citizens an opportunity to “self-enumerate”.
  • During self-enumeration, Aadhaar or mobile number will be mandatorily collected.
  • Around 30 lakh government officials including schoolteachers will be assigned as enumerators and each will be assigned the responsibility to collect details of about 650-800 people through both online and offline modes covering an estimated population of more than 140 crore.
  • In normal course, completion of both the phases of the Census takes at least 11 months.
  • The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023 that will come into effect on October 1 will help a centralised population register, electoral register, Aadhaar, ration card, passport and driving licence databases.
  • The centrally stored data will be updated real time without human interface leading to addition and deletion from electoral roll when an individual turns 18 and after death, respectively.
Women Reservation
  • According to the 128th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, the one-third reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies shall come into effect after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken based on the relevant figures of the first Census recorded after the Act has commenced.
Birth and Death report
  • Apart from the Census, the office of the RGI and the Census Commissioner of India have also not released two key reports on the registration of births, deaths, and causes of deaths for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023.
  • The report on ‘Vital Statistics of India Based On The Civil Registration System’ for 2020 was only released in May 2022.
  • The preface of the report said that civil registration was a continuous, permanent, compulsory recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events, like births, deaths, and still births.
  • These vital statistics are invaluable for planning, monitoring and evaluating various programmes related to primary health care, family planning, maternal and child health, education etc,.
  • The annual ‘Report On Medical Certification Of Cause of Death’ was last released for the year 2020.
  • This report carries statistics on the causes of deaths, cross-tabulating them by age and sex of the deceased.
  • During 2020, on the recommendation of the Indian Council of Medical Research, new codes were introduced to account for deaths due to COVID-19.
Source- The Hindu

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