Updates on Census 2021

The Indian Government plans to conduct its next population survey in 2021.? The Census of India, conducted every 10 years, has been conducted for a total of 15 times till 2011 Census.

History of the Census

• While it was started in 1872, the first complete census was performed in 1881.
• After the independence, the Indian Census has been performed by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
• The 1948 Census of India Act provided the legislative cover for all Census conducted since 1951.?

What happens in 2021 Census?

• The government is not inclined to collect caste data in the 2021 Census as the previous exercise generated over 40 lakh caste names which were difficult to tabulate and complicated the entire process.
• The 2021 exercise will be performed by 31 lakh trained data enumerators who will collect the Census data using digitally connected Android mobile devices.
• The use of modern technology will ensure that data compilation, assimilation and crunching won’t take much time and the results of the 2021 Census will be available by the year 2024-2025.
• While in most other countries, the census data is made available in a day, the sheer size of Indian landmass, the diversity of terrain and the scale of the Indian population means that data enumeration exercise will take a long time to be done.