Population or human capital is an important asset. In fact, it is the human capital that has done the humanization of nature. We often say that natural things (resources) are free gifts from God. Though they are- but there is still a need for human intervention to convert them into valuable and usable forms. But for that, the human capital (people as a resource) must be technical, skillfully developed, logical, educated, etc. So connecting it to the starting line we can easily understand the fact. The demographic profile of a nation is important, in other words, we call it a census figure. Census put simply is the collection of data on population composition, growth, rate of change, etc that helps us to have a holistic view of size distribution, socioeconomic demography, and the allied characteristics of a country’s population. This, in turn, helps the government in framing policies, welfare schemes, programmes and others provisions to uplift the area of improvement and smooth administration in the country.
How and who conducts the census?
The first synchronised census was conducted in our country in 1881. Since then the decennial approach of enumeration is done for the same purpose. The roots of the census go back to the Census Act of 1984, which is the only legal background related to census and allied activities. The office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India is withheld with the same purpose. The freezing of boundaries is done and three months later, the census is done in two phases including phase 1 (Housing data collection) and phase 2( Demographic composition and allied data collection).
Why is census important?
As described earlier that the census provides data to uplift the areas of improvement. India is known because of its diversity – the census helps us to know the proportionality of this diversity in terms of caste, tribes, religion, language, etc. The allocation of funds and delimitation process is only done – based on the source of the census. The welfare schemes are introduced extensively on the basis of data from the census. Though India is a major reservation provider, it wholly and solely relies on the census in terms of the updation of reservations as far as the SCs and STs are concerned. Apart from these, it helps us to create a profile in terms of sex ratio, literacy rate, availability of basic services, migration, etc and accordingly ranks a nation to a full-fledged list. And last it works as feeder data for other sample surveys.
Why has been there a delay in census?
Following the decennial approach of enumeration, the last census was successfully conducted in 2011 and the new one was to get completed in 2021 as per the estimated period. But the same has been delayed only spotlighting the reason for Covid-19. Till now the concerned government has made further delays and it is predicted the same census could be possibly held in mid-2023 with the expected completion in 2024. And the best thing is that we also hope for the same. The government has recently extended the deadline for freezing boundaries till June 30, 2023.
Implications of delay
Census being the only major mine of data to drive a number of results has vast implications and disadvantages of being delayed to great extent. Recently, the Centre announced PDS (Public Distribution System) under PMGKY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana) to cover 82 crores of the population allocating free rice. This is the best move and has been in operation during the pandemic. But the major concern is that the coverage to be covered (82 crores) has been taken according to the 2011 census. There is a gap of 10 years and we can imagine how the population change has been there in these 10 years. So taking data from previous/outdated census (2011) becomes unreliable and surely can affect those who do and do not are the beneficiaries of such schemes. Interstate disparities in population growth rates could also impinge upon debates on the prospective delimitation of electoral boundaries and appropriation of seats across the states. Funds and schemes are allocated to the general public and states (as all are not growing evenly due to the geo socio-political and economic disparities) on the basis of census figures so it once again becomes disadvantageous to use outdated data. Migration has been in hike or surge due to several pushes and pull factors and majorly because of the pandemic. A lot of changes in population composition, distribution and structure would have been taken in the past 10 years and there is a need for a census as soon as possible. This will further boost, enhance and give a major thrust towards the strong and smooth running of policies and welfare schemes according to the updated demographic profile. The government must not show apathy in this serious concern.

The writer is BSc 6th Semester student at Government Degree College Sogam with an interest in socio-educational aspects. Feedback at [email protected]

Danish Bashir