Type: Prelims Only

Why in the News

The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India notified 40 questions on 14 August for Population Enumeration, the second phase of Census 2027. The expansion from the 29 questions of Census 2011 to 40, including identity document numbers and the place of COVID-19 vaccination, has shifted the debate from how India counts its people to how much personal information a census may record.

What is the Population Enumeration phase of the Census?

1. About: It is the second and principal phase of the census, in which every individual present in a household is recorded with their demographic, social and economic particulars.
2. What precedes it: The first phase, House Listing Operations, records buildings, households and household amenities rather than persons.
3. Reference date: Every entry relates to a fixed reference moment, so that a person is counted once and only once across the country.
4. Method of collection: Enumerators canvass each household with a schedule of notified questions, supplemented in this round by a web portal.
5. Who notifies the questions: The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India notifies the questionnaire after several rounds of consultation with all ministries.

What is House Listing Operations?

1. About: It is the first phase of the census, which lists every building and every household and records the amenities and assets each household holds.
2. When it was held: For Census 2027 it was conducted from April 2026, and self enumeration was offered before it in June.

What is the extended de facto method of enumeration?

1. About: Under this method every person present at a location during the enumeration period is counted at that location, whether or not it is their permanent home.
2. Why it is used: It prevents both the omission of the homeless and mobile and the double counting of persons who have moved between the two phases.

What is self enumeration?

1. About: It allows a household to fill in its own census schedule on an official web portal instead of waiting for an enumerator.
2. How it is secured: The option is georeferenced, so access is restricted to devices located within the notified area for which it has been opened.

What changes in the Census 2027 questionnaire?

1. Total questions: The Population Enumeration schedule carries 40 questions, against 29 questions in the Census 2011 schedule.
2. New additions: 13 new questions appear that were not part of the 2011 questionnaire.
3. Family and identity fields: The new set records the spouse’s name, nationality, the particulars of the father and mother, and the permanent address.
4. Document fields: It records the passport, driving licence, mobile number, Aadhaar number and voter identity number, in each case only if available.
5. Access and asset fields: It records digital literacy and the number of bank accounts an individual holds.
6. Health field: It records the place of COVID-19 vaccination.
7. Caste enumeration: The Population Census will separately enumerate caste, alongside these new data fields.

What rationale and what safeguards accompany the new data fields?

1. How the questions were settled: The questions were decided after several rounds of discussion with all ministries, each seeking data for its own planning use.
2. Only government issued documents: The identity documents sought, meaning Aadhaar, voter identity card, driving licence and passport, are all issued by the government itself.
3. No account details: Enumerators will record only the number of bank accounts an individual holds, not the account details.
4. Availability condition: Respondents provide these particulars subject to availability, so absence of a document does not obstruct enumeration.
5. Statutory confidentiality: All data collected is confidential under the Census Act, 1948.
6. Practical advice to households: Respondents should write their details down on paper before an enumerator arrives, since 40 questions take longer to answer.
7. Fraud warning: Fraudsters may seek information in the name of the census, and enumerators carry QR code enabled identity cards whose credentials can be verified.

How will self enumeration operate in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh?

1. Coverage: The option opens for the entire Union Territory of Ladakh and for the snow bound areas of 16 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
2. Sequence of operations: The web portal opens on 17 August, and door to door enumeration begins on 1 September.
3. Geographic restriction: The option is georeferenced and available only within the snow bound areas themselves.
4. Effect of that restriction: A resident of a snow bound area such as Gurez who is currently in the plains cannot access the portal.
5. Uptake in the first phase: More than 6.67 lakh households in Jammu and Kashmir and 7,009 households in Ladakh voluntarily completed self enumeration before House Listing Operations in June.
6. Counting rule applied: Under the extended de facto pattern, everyone present at a location will be counted there.

Why does Census 2027 carry particular significance for the two Union Territories?

1. First count after the constitutional change: It will provide the first comprehensive demographic picture of Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.
2. First count of a new Union Territory: It will be the first Census of Ladakh as a Union Territory.
3. Length of the gap: It updates population figures after a gap of more than a decade.
4. Range of data generated: It will generate data on population distribution, migration, age structure, housing, education, employment, fertility, disability and social composition.
5. Administrative use: That data feeds planning and resource allocation for two administrations without a recent baseline.
6. Why geography is the focus: Demographic realities vary sharply across urban centres, border districts, remote mountain villages and tribal areas, so the census aims to capture where people live, how they live and how those patterns are changing.

What makes enumeration in these two Union Territories difficult?

1. Dispersed settlement in Jammu and Kashmir: The population is spread across cities, villages, mountainous regions, border areas and tribal habitations.
2. Seasonal migration: Movement between summer and winter settlements complicates the fixing of a household’s location.
3. Altitude and terrain in Ladakh: The population lives across a vast high altitude region marked by dispersed settlements.
4. Connectivity and access: Difficult connectivity, seasonal accessibility and remote locations restrict when and how enumerators can reach households.
5. The accuracy requirement: The exercise must capture not only headcount but the way population distribution varies across these terrains.

How will nomadic and displaced populations be counted?

1. Inter departmental coordination: Special coordination with the departments dealing with forests, tribal affairs and local administration will identify migratory routes and seasonal settlements.
2. Nomadic communities: The routes and seasonal settlements of the Gujjar-Bakarwals and other nomadic groups will be mapped before enumeration.
3. The stated objective: Mobility must not translate into undercounting.
4. Displaced communities: Kashmiri Pandits will be recorded according to established Census concepts and reference dates.
5. What is captured for them: Their migration history and household characteristics will be recorded alongside the standard schedule.

Challenges to Census 2027

1. Undercounting of mobile populations: Pastoral and migrant groups move between the reference date and the enumeration window. e.g. Gujjar-Bakarwal families move to high altitude summer pastures in the Pir Panjal and Ladakh ranges precisely during the enumeration months.
2. Privacy exposure from identity fields: Recording Aadhaar, voter identity, passport and mobile numbers against a household creates a re identification risk if any downstream database is compromised. e.g. successive breaches of health and telecom databases in India have shown how linked identifiers enable profiling.
3. Impersonation and cyber fraud: The census provides cover for fraudsters seeking financial credentials. e.g. callers posing as enumerators have previously sought Aadhaar and bank details during welfare verification drives.
4. Enumerator capacity and quality: Enumeration is done by government employees deployed on top of their regular duties. e.g. schoolteachers form the bulk of enumerators, which interrupts academic schedules and limits training time.
5. Digital divide in self enumeration: The portal presumes a smartphone, connectivity and literacy in the interface language. e.g. snow bound districts of Jammu and Kashmir carry among the lowest mobile internet reliability in the country.
6. Delay in the decennial cycle distorts planning: Entitlements calculated on outdated population figures under count beneficiaries. e.g. National Food Security Act, 2013 coverage has continued to use Census 2011 population figures despite population growth since.
7. Caste enumeration classification: Recording caste requires a settled list of categories and spellings across states. e.g. the 1931 Census recorded over 4,000 caste entries, and Bihar’s 2023 state survey used a far shorter list of 214 categories.

Conclusion

Population Enumeration begins on 17 August in Ladakh and the snow bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and runs till 30 September, ahead of the rest of the country, which will be enumerated in February 2027. Self enumeration on the web portal opens the same day, and door to door enumeration in these areas begins on 1 September. The exercise will produce the first full demographic account of Jammu and Kashmir since the constitutional change of 2019 and the first Census of Ladakh as a Union Territory.

The Census in India

1. About: The census is the complete enumeration of every person in the country at a fixed reference moment, together with their demographic, social and economic characteristics.
2. Administering body: The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, set up in 1961, functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs and conducts the census, the Civil Registration System and the Sample Registration System.
3. Two phase structure: Every census is conducted in two phases, House Listing Operations followed by Population Enumeration.
4. Scale: It is the largest peacetime administrative exercise in the world, deploying around 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors to cover more than 1.4 billion people.
5. Historical continuity: India has conducted a census every ten years since 1881 without interruption until the 2021 round was postponed.
6. What is new in 2027: Census 2027 will be the first digital census, using a mobile application and a self enumeration portal, and the first to enumerate caste since 1931.
7. Why the numbers matter: Census figures determine delimitation of constituencies, the population criterion in the Finance Commission’s devolution formula, reservation of seats, and the coverage of welfare entitlements.

Constitutional Provisions Related to the Census

1. Entry 69, Union List, Seventh Schedule: Places census exclusively within the legislative competence of Parliament.
2. Article 246: Distributes legislative power between the Union and the States across the three Lists, which is what makes Entry 69 a Union subject.
3. Article 81: Fixes the composition of the Lok Sabha and requires seats to be allotted to States in proportion to population.
4. Article 82: Requires readjustment of the allocation of Lok Sabha seats and the division of States into constituencies after every census.
5. Article 170: Requires the same readjustment for State Legislative Assemblies after every census.
6. Article 55: Uses population figures in computing the value of votes in the presidential electoral college, with the 84th Amendment fixing the 1971 figures for this purpose.
7. Articles 330 and 332: Base the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies on their population share.
8. Articles 243D and 243T: Base reservation of seats in panchayats and municipalities on population proportions drawn from census data.

Laws and Rules Governing the Census

1. Census Act, 1948: Provides the legal authority to conduct a census, appoint census officers and require the public to answer questions.
2. Section 8: Places a legal obligation on every occupier and every person to answer census questions truthfully.
3. Section 15: Makes census records confidential, not open to inspection and inadmissible as evidence in any legal proceeding, so an individual’s return cannot be used against them.
4. Census Rules, 1990: Lay down the procedural framework for appointment of census staff, canvassing and record keeping.
5. Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969: Establishes the Civil Registration System administered by the same Registrar General, which supplies continuous vital statistics between censuses.
6. Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003: Provide for the National Population Register, a separate register of usual residents, distinct in law from the census.
7. Collection of Statistics Act, 2008: Governs other official statistical collections and their confidentiality obligations.

Back2Basics: Census Act, 1948

1. Enactment: Passed in 1948 and extending to the whole of India, it is the permanent statutory basis for every decennial census.
2. Trigger: The Central Government notifies its intention to take a census, and the dates, through a gazette notification.
3. Machinery: It provides for the appointment of a Census Commissioner, Directors of Census Operations, and census officers down to the enumerator level, with defined powers to ask questions.
4. Public obligation: Every person is legally bound to answer the questions put to them truthfully, and refusal or a false answer is punishable.
5. Confidentiality guarantee: Individual records are not open to public inspection and are inadmissible as evidence, so census data cannot be used for enforcement against any individual.
6. Penalties: The Act penalises both a census officer who discloses information and a respondent who gives a false answer.
7. Nature of the data: Only aggregated statistical tables are published, never individual returns.

Government Initiatives Related to Population Data

1. Census 2027 digital application and monitoring portal: Enumeration, supervision and data validation move to a mobile application backed by a central management and monitoring system, replacing paper schedules.
2. Self Enumeration portal: Allows households to complete their own census schedule online, with georeferencing to restrict access to the notified area.
3. National Population Register: A register of usual residents maintained under the Citizenship Act, 1955, first prepared alongside the 2011 House Listing phase and updated in 2015.
4. Civil Registration System: Continuous compulsory registration of births and deaths under the 1969 Act, providing vital statistics between census years.
5. Sample Registration System: A large scale sample survey run by the Registrar General that generates annual birth rate, death rate and infant mortality estimates.
6. National Family Health Survey: Conducted under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it supplies fertility, nutrition and health indicators that complement census counts.
7. Census data portals: Census tables are published for public use through the official census portal and the National Data and Analytics Platform.

Key Facts about the Census

1. The first census in India was conducted in 1872 under Lord Mayo, and was non synchronous across provinces.
2. The first synchronous and complete census was held in 1881 under Lord Ripon, and the decennial series has run from that year.
3. Census 2011 was the 15th census since 1872 and the 7th after Independence, recording a population of 121.09 crore, a density of 382 persons per square kilometre, a sex ratio of 943 and a literacy rate of 74.04 percent.
4. Census 2027 will be the 16th census, the first digital census, and the first to enumerate caste since 1931.
5. The reference date for Census 2027 is 1 March 2027 for most of the country, and 1 October 2026 for snow bound and non synchronous areas.
6. The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India was set up in 1961 and works under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
7. Census figures govern delimitation, which stands frozen under the 84th and 87th Constitutional Amendments until the first census taken after 2026.

Challenges in Census Taking in India

1. Disruption of the decennial cycle: A postponed census leaves every population dependent policy working on stale figures. e.g. the 2021 round was deferred and India will have gone sixteen years between full counts.
2. Undercount of the homeless and of migrants: Persons without a fixed dwelling are systematically missed. e.g. Census 2011 recorded about 17.7 lakh homeless persons, a figure civil society organisations widely regard as an undercount.
3. Classification difficulties in caste enumeration: Caste names vary by spelling, region and sub group, which makes tabulation contested. e.g. the 1931 Census produced over 4,000 caste entries that could not be aggregated cleanly.
4. Urban definition problems: Statistical and administrative definitions of urban areas diverge. e.g. census towns satisfy the census definition of urban but continue to be governed by rural panchayats without urban service standards.
5. Enumerator burden and data quality: Enumerators are serving government staff performing census duty in addition to their jobs. e.g. schoolteachers form the bulk of the enumerator pool, which limits training depth and interrupts teaching.
6. Data security in a digital census: Digitised individual level records create risks that paper schedules did not. e.g. a mobile application that stores identity numbers requires encryption and access control standards that do not exist in the Census Act, 1948.
7. Political sensitivity of population figures: Census numbers directly determine seats and money, which makes them contested. e.g. southern States have objected to the use of current population for delimitation on the ground that it penalises successful fertility decline.

Way Forward

1. Legislate a data protection layer over census data: Extend explicit statutory protection to digitally stored individual records, since the Census Act, 1948 predates digital collection.
2. Publish a clear separation between the Census and the National Population Register: State in the notification itself that census returns cannot be transferred to any citizenship or enforcement register.
3. Expand assisted self enumeration: Provide common service centre and panchayat level assistance so that self enumeration does not exclude those without smartphones.
4. Build a special enumeration protocol for mobile groups: Fix pastoral and nomadic enumeration to the migration calendar rather than the general schedule.
5. Restore and legally fix the decennial cycle: Commit to a statutory timetable so that welfare, devolution and delimitation are never based on a sixteen year old count again.
6. Standardise the caste enumeration schema in advance: Publish a national list of caste categories and their state variants before enumeration begins to make tabulation usable.
7. Release disaggregated data quickly: Publish primary census abstracts and district level tables within a fixed period after enumeration so that planning use is not delayed further.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2009] Consider the following statements:
1. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the density of the population of India has increased more than three times.
2. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the annual growth rate (exponential) of the population of India has doubled.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (d)”