Census may start soon in the country. The central government has given indications of this on Sunday. However, nothing has been said officially about the date so far. It is being said that the government can also consider caste-based calls. Apart from this, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi can also implement one country one election during this term.
According to PTI, the government has started preparations for conducting the decennial census, but a decision has not yet been taken on including a column related to caste in this process. Sources gave this information on Sunday. A source said on the condition of anonymity that the decennial census will be conducted soon. In India, census is conducted every 10 years since 1881.
The first phase of this decennial census was expected to begin on April 1, 2020, but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act passed by Parliament last year is also linked to the decennial census.
The law reserving one-third of the seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will come into effect after the delimitation process begins based on the relevant data of the first census to be held after the enactment of this Act. When asked about the inclusion of a caste column in the decennial census, the source said, “It is yet to be decided.”
Political parties are strongly demanding a caste census. In the absence of new data, government agencies are still formulating policies and allocating subsidies based on the 2011 census data.
The household listing phase under the Census and updating of the National Population Register (NPR) was scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020, but was postponed due to Covid-19.
Officials said that the entire census and NPR process is likely to cost the government more than Rs 12,000 crore. This will be the first digital census, through which citizens will get the opportunity to count themselves. For this, the Census Authority has prepared a self-enumeration portal, which has not been launched yet. Aadhar or mobile number will be compulsorily collected during self-enumeration.
(With agency input)