Get on with Census: Crucial demographic exercise cannot wait for next elections

Source: The post is based on the article “Get on with Census: Crucial demographic exercise cannot wait for next elections” published in the Business Standard on 12^th November 2022.

Syllabus: GS – 2 – Governance.

Relevance: About the delay in Census.

News: India’s decadal Census exercise has been carried out at the beginning of every decade for over a century — except the current one. It was postponed due to the pandemic, but even after lifting the curbs, there is no effort to restart the Census process.

So, there is an assumption that the Census 2021 will not begin to be conducted until after the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

What is the importance of the Census?

Essential for state governance: The Census is the basic building block of many instruments of state policy that are essential for a) The proper provision of goods, b) The effectiveness of governance, c) Ensuring a fair and just division of expenditure across regions and target groups, d) Providing actual enumeration of population characteristics and e) Relevant for the division of the pool of taxes across states.

Supreme over other surveys: Surveys on households, jobs and other items can only complement the Census, not replace it. Further, Census acts as a crucial corrective on such surveys, estimates, and extrapolations.

Important for welfare state: For instance, a recent directive from the Supreme Court regarding the distribution of benefits under the National Food Security Act underlines the centrality of the Census to India’s welfare mechanisms.

How India plans to revamp the census?

The government plans to experiment with the benefits of digitising part of the process like that of the US. For instance, the government notified new methods of enumeration. This ensures “self-enumeration” by the respondents and electronic submission of data. This can speed up the Census process.

What should be done?

The government should fast-forward the census collection. This is because the upcoming elections and delimitation of constituencies in 2027 will further delay the census work. Hence, the government cannot afford to postpone the Census indefinitely.