Next census of india

The Census is not limited to being a mere population count; it includes a wide range of crucial locational, familial and individual information

1 The Census is not limited to offer a population count. It includes a wide range of locational, familial and individual information that serves to understand the changing population dynamic in its entirety. 

2 The first and foremost limitation of avoiding a Census lies in the reliability of all our large-scale surveys such as National Family Health Survey and Periodic Labour Force Survey carried out on a Census frame that is one and a half decades old.

The need to understand many changes

क्या है जनगणना का महत्व ?

1 in population count and its composition but also on many other features relating to education, occupation, employment, health (COVID-19) and livelihoods. 

2 Census and not delaying it any more has numerous grounds of reasoning, particularly a rapid demographic transition and the resultant demographic dividend.

 3 A population Census  will  map -

• familial structures, 
• locational distribution 
• and occupational composition

alternative to the Census ?

Like  caste Census to serve political ends more than development planning, which undoubtedly reveals the limited understanding on the utility of a Census and its relevance for course correction in many presumed strategies for human welfare.

चुनाव कराया जा सकता है लेकिन जनगणना नहीं ?

1 Missing the 2021 Census can never be an excuse given that a general election was conducted in the midst of all uncertainties. 

2 The machinery needed for a Census exercise is perhaps quite comparable to that of an election. 

3 हालांकि, सरकारी योजनाओं और कार्यक्रमों के कवरेज और परिणामी प्रभाव के संदर्भ में उनके मूल्यांकन पर राय की कमी नहीं है। दुर्भाग्य से, उचित विभाजक के बिना, किसी भी कार्यक्रम की सफलता की निगरानी करना भ्रामक होगा।

The urgency of having a population

1 Further, in the absence of a Census frame, the surveys carried out will be less reliable and representative which has been the basis of generating a whole host of SDG indicators.

 2 And the measure of progress in the SDG claimed, based on these indicators, may well be under scrutiny given their statistical inadequacies.

3 The world population prospects reveal 

unique features of population change and good demographic data

4 world population is greatly influenced by Indian population 

features, it is essential to have the reality of its population features obtained in the Census rather than presuming estimated values based on past trends that depend on projections and extrapolations. 

5 indicators with disaggregation below the sub-national level

In the prevailing SDG environment, there has been an obsession with regard to the generation of a wide range of indicators with disaggregation below the sub-national level. 

The caste Census cry

. No one should be misled that a caste auditing is backed by a genuine intent of reading inclusion of different caste groups. It is largely to establish differential entitlements citing a lack of representation and deprivation. 

Unfortunately, there is a complete absence of any systematic assessment of mobility in the said domains of education and occupation against the axis of caste despite sustained affirmative action for so long.

Finally keeping the Census at bay is perhaps in the interest of the state to claim progress and betterment basing on numerators alone without its appropriate denominator in the computation of indicators. 

Hence, the scientific community should convey the need for a Census without any further delay to get out of the illusion that surveys and many other administrative statistics are a replacement for the Census. So the key apprehension remains: has the Census been delayed? Or is there a convincing attempt to avoid the Census?

Source the hindu