Census in India and its importance
- India is known for its regular population census, which has provided significant data for planning, but the recent delay in conducting a census is a cause for concern.
Census in India and Its Significance:
- Census is a repository of complete data about the country, gathered using public money, thus, a social good.
- India’s first Census was held in 1872
- India has held its decadal censuses regularly from 1881 to 2011
- Need for Conducting Census:
- Carries the promise of counting each and every Indian
- Enable neat, inter-temporal comparability to where India stands.
- Effective governance and global faith in the country
- Significance:
- Helps in finding vital statistics, crucial for planning and resolving problems, and fixing deficiencies.
- Helps in reaching out to the real root cause of an issue irrespective of the bigotry and prejudice.
Reasons for Delay:
- Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic
- States’ reluctancy over National Register of Citizens (NRC)
- Center’s assertiveness for conducting caste census (last held in 1931, 2011 socio-economic caste census data not released)
Census across the globe:
- Countries without Census:
- Afghanistan (1979),
- Lebanon (1932),
- Somalia (1985),
- Uzbekistan (1989),
- Western Sahara (1970)
- Pakistan conducted its latest census in 2017
- Democratic Republic of the Congo held a census in 2022 (last held in 1984)