The nationwide census will now be able to start only in 2025. The Census Registrar has issued an order allowing the states to change the boundaries of their divisions, districts, sub-divisions, tehsils and villages till 31 December 2024. Earlier this limit was only till 30 June. Actually, sealing the government boundaries is the first condition for starting the census. According to sources, now the census can start anytime after 1 January 2025. The order to seal the government boundaries has been increasing for the last two years. In view of this, it was being hoped that the census would be able to start in September. Doubt over adding column related to OBC The political demand for caste count is also being said to be an obstacle in the way of starting the census. The Center has to decide whether to add OBC related questions in the census or not. Sources say that if this question is to be added, then the Census Act may have to be amended.
2 major reasons for completing the census early
First: On the basis of the Delimitation Commission to be formed in the year 2026, the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats are to be demarcated afresh. There was a freeze on the number of constituencies of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Legislative Assemblies till 2026. According to the new population figures, these constituencies will be demarcated afresh. The number of seats in Parliament will also increase.
Second: According to these increased seats, one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies will be reserved for women. For this, the historic bill has been passed on September 23.
The next census will be held in 2035.
A new census cycle will begin with the 2025 census. After 2025, the census will be held in 2035 and 2045. The census, which is conducted every ten years since 1881, was to be conducted in 2021, which will start with a delay of 3 years. The entire exercise will be completed in 2 to 2.5 years. In such a situation, it would not be logical to limit this data to 2031. This time the census will be digital and the help of self-enumeration app will also be taken. The census exercise, which is spread over 3 years, will be attempted to be completed in 18-24 months. The basic data of the census is very important for the delimitation of census constituencies and governance and administration required to formulate plans and policies. On the basis of the data collected in the census, it is decided how many seats will be reserved in the Legislative Assemblies and Lok Sabha. The government makes policies related to social welfare only on the basis of the census. The parliamentary and assembly constituencies will be delimited only after the census. The number of constituencies of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Legislative Assemblies cannot increase or decrease till 2026. The constituencies have to be demarcated afresh according to the population of the year 2021. According to this, seats can increase. One-third of the seats in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas are to be reserved for women on the increased seats. Amendment in the Act will have to be made for counting castes There is a provision for counting SC-ST in the Census Act 1948. Amendment will have to be made for counting OBCs. This will reveal the data of 2,650 castes of OBC. According to the 2011 census, there are 1,270 SC, 748 ST castes by March 2023. In 2011, the SC population was 16.6% and ST 8.6%. Socio-economic census data was not released Socio-economic and caste census was conducted in 2011 during the Manmohan Singh government. It was conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Home Affairs. However, the data of this survey was never made public. Only its SC-ST household data has been released on the website of the Ministry of Rural Development. In such a situation, it is believed that the cycle of census can change. Due to this, the new cycle of census will be after 2025, in 2035 and 2045. Sources said, the census will be digital and the help of self-enumeration app will be taken. There are indications that the work of house listing will start in the first phase of the census within three months of sealing the boundaries of the administrative units of the districts in September 2024.
c Buy pratiyogitanirdeshika – Study Material
