The Union Home Minister has released a detailed census document ‘A Treatise on Indian Censuses since 1981′ to mark the 150th year of its operations (it began working in 1871).
- The new census will introduce “natural calamities” as a new option when asking about the factors responsible for the migration of an individual or a family, apart from existing options such as education, marriage, work or business.
- The next Census will only count Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain as distinct religion options.
- Census 2021, which was to be conducted in two phases, has been postponed indefinitely, with the Central government initially attributing the delay to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The next Census is also set to be the first digital Census, where respondents will have the option to fill in the questionnaire from the comforts of their own homes.
About Census
A Census is Constitutionally mandated in India. There are repeated references to the Census exercise in the Constitution in the context of reorganisation of constituencies for Parliament and state Assemblies.
But the Constitution does not say when the Census has to be carried out, or what the frequency of this exercise should be.
The Census of India Act of 1948, which provides the legal framework for carrying out the Census, also does not mention its timing or periodicity.
There is, therefore, no Constitutional or legal requirement that a Census has to be done every 10 years.
However, this exercise has been carried out in the first year of every decade, without fail, since 1881.
