G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister said on Thursday that the Census Act, 1948, will have to be amended for caste enumerations to be included in the next decadal Census exercise, The Hindu reported.
The Minister for Coals and Mines mentioned the timeline for the census may align with the delimitation of the Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats in 2026.
Delimitation of the seats is a constitutional mandate according to the 84th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2001. As reported by The Hindu, the population data of the first census after 2026 will be the basis of redrawing of boundaries of the constituencies. The current seats are drawn on the basis of the 1971 Census.
“Constituencies are to be re-arranged in the coming days. It is a constitutional requirement as well demand by the society. Another Census would have had to be done after 2026, so to accommodate the delimitation schedule, it was decided to conduct it later,” the Union Minister said.
He also added that groundwork and preparation for the upcoming population census has to be done now.
“Forms have to be finalised, enumerators are to be trained and the Act has to be amended. Keeping all that in mind, this decision was taken,” The Hindu quoted Reddy.
He stated that since caste has never been recorded in the population census before, the procedure for finalising details for the same will be done with caste organisations, public representatives and public intellectuals among others. Muslim caste details will also be included in the population census.
“The names of caste provided by people will also have to be taken into account. ... There will be detailed guidelines,” Reddy said. He added that the Bill is likely to be tabled during the monsoon session of Parliament.
The last census was conducted in India in 2011 - which is mandated to be conducted every 10 years. The comprehensive categorization of the demography takes around 11 months, and is conducted in two phases: the House Listing and Housing Schedule, followed by the population Enumeration.
The exercise generally starts on April 1 and concludes by February 28. The upcoming census will be the first time caste enumeration will be included in India's decadal census.
