The government has started getting ready to carry out the 10-year census, but they have not yet decided whether to include a section on caste, sources said on Sunday. One source, speaking anonymously, mentioned that the census will take place soon. India has been conducting the census every 10 years since 1881.
The first phase of this decade’s census was supposed to start on April 1, 2020, but it had to be delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Top of FormBottom of Form
The implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act, passed by Parliament last year, is also connected to the completion of the 10-year census.
The law reserving one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will take effect after a delimitation exercise is done using the figures from the first census conducted after the Act comes into force.
“This is still to be decided,” the source said when asked about including a column on caste in the 10-year census.
Political parties have been strongly calling for a caste census. Without new data, government agencies are still making policies and distributing subsidies based on the 2011 census data.
The house listing phase of the census and the update of the National Population Register (NPR) were planned to take place nationwide from April 1 to September 30, 2020, but were postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Officials said the entire census and NPR exercise is likely to cost the government more than Rs 12,000 crore.
This exercise, whenever it happens, will be the first digital census giving the citizens an opportunity to self-enumerate.
The NPR has been made compulsory for citizens who want to fill out the census form themselves instead of using government enumerators. To facilitate this, the census authority has created a self-enumeration portal, which is not yet launched. During self-enumeration, Aadhaar or mobile numbers will be collected mandatorily.
The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner had prepared 31 questions to be asked. These questions include whether a family has a telephone, internet connection, mobile or smartphone, bicycle, scooter, motorcycle, moped, or whether they own a car, jeep, or van.
Citizens will also be asked about the cereal they consume at home, their main source of drinking water, main source of lighting, access to and type of toilet, waste water outlet, availability of bathing facilities, kitchen, and LPG/PNG connection. Additionally, questions will cover the main fuel used for cooking and the availability of a radio, transistor, or television.
Citizens will also be asked about the predominant material of the floor, walls, and roof of their house, the condition of the house, the total number of people normally living in the household, whether the head of the household is a woman, and whether the head belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. They will also be asked about the number of dwelling rooms exclusively used by the household and the number of married couples living in the household, among other details.