The Union government has deferred census operations in Manipur, originally scheduled to begin on September 1, following persistent demands from civil society organisations for the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to address concerns about demographic changes due to alleged illegal immigration.
The Centre has notified 40 questions for the upcoming Census 2027, including caste and place of Covid vaccination, marking the first time caste details will be collected as part of the decadal exercise. The population enumeration will be a fully digital process, with an option for self-enumeration.
Over 93,000 individuals in Delhi have participated in the self-enumeration exercise for Census 2027, with North East, South West, and North West Delhi districts leading in registrations. The initiative, part of a broader census effort, allows residents to submit household details online, contributing to the overall data collection process.
Police in Thane, Maharashtra, have filed an FIR against two government employees assigned census work for alleged dereliction of duty. The employees, a clerk and a compounder, failed to report to their designated office and refused to initiate assigned tasks for the Census 2027, despite repeated contact from higher authorities.
Four Census officials were assaulted in Odisha's Dhenkanal district, prompting the state government to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) to safeguard census officials from physical harm and heat-related risks.
'Once the numbers come out, they fear that the OBCs would start to demand, and articulate what they are lacking, why they are lacking and what should be done to go forward.'
Authorities in Delhi have implemented a QR code-based verification system for census enumerators and supervisors to combat rising cyber fraud cases involving impersonation and fake government officials during the Census 2027.
Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo announced that the Census 2027 will be a fully digital and paperless exercise, utilising mobile technology, AI, and cloud computing for accuracy and efficiency, marking a shift towards data-driven governance.
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, has reassured the public that individual data collected during the upcoming census will remain confidential and cannot be used for any purpose other than statistical aggregation.
This will be India's 16th Census and the eighth since Independence. For the first time, citizens will also have the option of self-enumeration.
India has launched digital tools for its upcoming fully digital Census 2027, including mobile apps and a self-enumeration portal, aiming for efficient and accurate data collection.
Odisha and Uttar Pradesh are among the first to roll out the digital exercise.
The Indian government has released the list of questions to be asked during the first phase of the Census 2027, focusing on houselisting and housing enumeration. The survey will cover various aspects of housing conditions, household characteristics, and access to basic amenities.
The Union Cabinet on Friday approved Rs 11,718 crore for conducting the Census of India, 2027, which would include the caste enumeration for the first time.
'There will be not less than 31 lakh people working in the census process.'
Sonia Gandhi criticises the government's proposed delimitation, claiming it's a politically motivated move to delay the caste census and gain an unfair advantage, rather than genuinely promoting women's reservation.
'What is going on is the under counting of the migration population in urban areas.' 'It has been going on in the last few censuses.'
A special dedicated web portal will be launched for self-enumeration during the upcoming Census, which will be available for both phases of the national enumeration exercise, officials said Monday.
Census exercise with caste enumeration will be carried out with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country, the Home Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Rahul Gandhi accuses the government of using the women's reservation bill as a smokescreen to manipulate India's electoral map and diminish representation for certain states.
The census will be carried out with a reference date of October 1, 2026 in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country, the notification said.
India's decadal census is likely to be further delayed after the budget allocated only Rs 574.80 crore for the exercise, a significant reduction from previous years. The census, originally scheduled for 2021, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government has not yet announced a new schedule. The budget allocation suggests that the exercise may not be carried out even after the delay. The upcoming census will be the first digital census, allowing citizens to self-enumerate using a dedicated portal. The exercise will be made compulsory for citizens who wish to self-enumerate, and Aadhaar or mobile numbers will be required. The census will include questions on household demographics, amenities, and economic status.
While data can empower communities, it reinforces identities, making local politics more caste-centric, with decisions increasingly contested on the grounds of representation.
Such dynamics could lead to shifting alliances and, in the worst case, local governance getting paralysed as each group demands proportional power-sharing, explain Amitabh Kundu and Mehebub Rahaman.
The interim budget 2024-24 on Thursday allocated Rs 1,277.80 crore for census, a significant reduction from 2021-22 when Rs 3,768 crore was allocated and an indication that the exercise may not be carried out even after three years of delay.
The entire census and NPR exercise is likely to cost the government over Rs 12,000 crore, the officials said.
'The general elections in May 2024 may not have any impact on the Census.'
According to norms, census can be conducted only three months after the freezing of boundary limits of administrative units such as districts, sub-districts, tehsils, talukas and police stations.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during rallies in Bihar, accusing him of prioritizing votes over genuine governance and alleging that the BJP is controlling the state government through remote control.
On August 5, 1953, Jawaharlal Nehru sent a strange note to the foreign secretary. It is worth mentioning because it was symptomatic of the lack of knowledge about Western Tibet in India and in South Block in particular, notes Claude Arpi.
While it is evident that the INDIA bloc has not shut its doors on Nitish Kumar, those within the NDA are hopeful that the JD-U's support base would benefit them as well
According to the government, the additional chief secretary of the state housing department is designated to sign an agreement with the Union government for the land lease transfer.
According to the earlier schedule, the census would have its reference date as March 1, 2021 and in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it would have been October 1, 2020.
Whenever the Census operation resumes, it will capture the impact of Covid-19 to a large extent, including the extra-lethal second wave, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
While the BJP went back to the drawing board to recraft its political and governance outreach and regained momentum by notching up surprisingly big wins in a string of assembly polls, the burst of fresh optimism in the main opposition Congress and other INDIA bloc parties fizzled out.
At the end of the discussion, the older Monpa said that if today the Chinese were to come inside India, "I will fight and kill them", prudently adding, "if they are of my age, if they are younger soldiers, I will not be able to fight". The entire village had a good laugh.
'Peninsular Indians could ask 'Why should we contribute half of India's tax revenues if we account for only a quarter of the seats in the Lok Sabha?'.' 'The rest of the country seems likely to counter that 'democracy means one vote per person irrespective of where that person resides in India'.' 'With no easy answers to this thorny debate, the south's economic ascendancy could end up creating a Hobson's choice.' A revealing excerpt from Nandita Rajhansa and Saurabh Mukherjea's book, Behold the Leviathan: The Unusual Rise of Modern India.
The Telangana government officials would submit a report by February 2 on the caste survey held in the state last year.
'They want to keep the pot boiling all the time.' 'The BJP wants to set a political narrative that the Gandhis are doing wrong things.'
Discussions are going on at the highest level of the government and in all probability, the NPR and house listing phase of the Census work will be deferred till the threat of the Coronavirus is over, a home ministry official said.
'The deceased persons might be sitting or lying down when the tragedy struck them in the wee hours of Tuesday'
