New Delhi: In a major development, the Center on Wednesday announced that in the next three years, census census census exercises will be conducted in the next three years.
Long pending exercises will be held after 14 years. The final was held in 2010.
According to a statement by the government, the reference date of the population census 2027 will be 00:00 hours in March 1, 2027.
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The reference date will be 00.00 hours in October 1, 2026, for the center region of Ladakh and non-composite ice bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir and states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The statement said that the notification with the above reference dates will be temporarily published in the official gazette on 16 June 2025, as per the provision of Section 3 of the Census Act 1948, the statement said in the statement.
According to a government source, the census process begins with the issue of notification.
The source said, “Notification of intention will be published in the official Gazette on June 16, 2025, temporarily. The second and final phase of the census will begin in February 2027 and end on 1 March 2027.”
India’s census is organized under the provisions of Census Census Act, 1948 and Census Rules, 1990.
India’s final census was held in two phases in 2011.
In Phase I, the house listing was done from 1 April to 30 September 2010. In Phase II, the population was calculated from 9 February to 28 February 2011, with reference date 00:00 hours with 1 March 2011, except for snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, it was held on 11 September 2010.
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Calculation of caste with calculation of population
Whatever is new in this practice is also that caste will also be calculated with the calculation of population.
Since independence, caste was never included in any census. The Congress-led UPA government had calculated caste data in 2011, as part of its socio-economic and caste census (SECC), but the figures were never made public.
The Modi-led NDA government denied a caste census in 2021. In response to the Lok Sabha, the Center had said that it had decided, as a matter of policy, not to calculate caste-wise data beyond SCS and STS. In its affidavit presented in the Supreme Court, the Center said that “the census census is not an ideal means for the collection of details on caste” as “operational difficulties” are so serious that there is a serious threat that the basic integrity of census data can be compromised and the fundamental population can be distorted by itself “.
Since then, the BJP had maintained a vague stance on the issue, often to create a social division accusing the Congress of using the demand for caste census. But in April, the government announced that caste calculation would be part of the next census practice.
Delay due to Kovid -19
Census 2021 was proposed to be held in two stages in a similar manner with phase I during April-September 2020 and in the second phase in February 2021. This, however, could not be physical.
“All preparations for the first phase of the census to be held in 2021 were completed and the field work was scheduled to begin in some states and UTS from April 1, 2020. However, due to the outbreak of Kovid -19 epidemic across the country, the census work was postponed,” the statement said.
(Edited by Winnie Mishra)