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Mahesh

30/10/24 12:48 PM IST

How exactly is the Census carried out?

In News
  • The Centre, it seems, is finally preparing to conduct the Census which it could not carry out in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. 
Delimitation exercise
  • Delimitation, a Constitutional mandate, is supposed to happen after every Census.
  • The process adjusts the number of constituencies of Parliament and state Assemblies in accordance with the latest population figures, to ensure that the number of people represented by any Member of Parliament or Member of Legislative Assembly is roughly the same.
  • However, this exercise has been suspended since 1976 due to a lack of political consensus.
  • If the standard logic of delimitation were to be followed, the wide divergence in population growth trends in various states would mean that some would see the number of Parliamentary constituencies reduce, while others would see an increase.
  • Southern states have argued that this would amount to punishing them for successfully meeting population control objectives.
  • A delimitation exercise in 2002, following the 2001 Census, involved only the redrawing of existing boundaries of constituencies, and not a change in the number of constituencies.
  • As of now, delimitation is suspended till at least 2026.
  • The 84th Constitutional Amendment of 2001 said that the next delimitation can be held only based on the Census conducted after 2026.
  • Therefore, even if the 2021 Census had been held on time, or in 2023 or 2024, delimitation could have been done only after the 2031 Census.
  • If the Census, which takes two years to complete, begins next year, delimitation can theoretically happen immediately thereafter.
  • There is a Constitutional mandate to carry out a Census — it is mentioned as item 69 on the Union List of subjects, meaning only the Central government is empowered to undertake the exercise
  • There is no Constitutional or legal requirement for a Census every 10 years.
  • However, the British administration carried it out in the first year of every decade, and this convention was maintained after Independence.
  • Most other countries also follow a similar cycle for their Census. Some, like Australia, carry out a Census after every five years.
Schedule for delimitation
  • India’s Census is a two-step process involving a house-listing and numbering exercise, followed by population enumeration.
  • House-listing and numbering are done in the year before the Census year, usually between April and September.
  • Population enumeration happens between the second and fourth weeks of February in the Census year.
  • The numbers revealed represent the population of India as of midnight on March 1 in the Census year.
  • To account for the births and deaths during the enumeration period in February, the enumerators return to the households in the first week of March to make revisions.
  • The preliminary results of the Census, particularly population totals, are released within a few months, usually in the same year the Census is carried out. The full results take one to two years to come out.
  • A Census that begins in 2025 and is completed in 2026 might not enable an immediate delimitation.
  • The language of the 84th Constitutional amendment says delimitation can happen only on data from the first Census “taken after the year 2026”.
  • This would suggest that the population enumeration part of the Census has to be carried out after 2026.
  • Therefore, if the Census exercise has to begin next year and the government wants to begin the delimitation process afterwards, in time for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, an amendment to the existing provision may be required.
  • The Finance Commission, a body constituted every five years, recommends the devolution of financial resources between the Centre and states.
  • The 16th Finance Commission is supposed to submit its report by the end of next year.
  • Further, the Parliament approved the 128th Constitution Amendment last year, reserving 33 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women.
  • However, it is supposed to come into effect only after the seats in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies are modified, following the delimitation exercise.
Caste Census
  • There is also an expectation that the next Census may collect caste data as well to eliminate the need for a separate caste census, which has been demanded by some political parties in recent years.
  • The collection of caste data in the Census would not be unprecedented.
  • Some information related to caste was obtained until the 1941 Census and the practice was discontinued only in independent India.
  • In some earlier years, information on caste or sect of people belonging to all religions was obtained in the Census. In other years, only the caste data of Hindus was collected.
  • The practice was discontinued from the 1951 Census onwards, and only data on Scheduled Castes or Tribes has been collected since then.
Source- Indian Express

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