India is set to commence its long-overdue population census on April 1st, marking the beginning of what promises to be the biggest data collection effort the world has ever seen. After a hiatus of 14 long years since the last census in 2011, the forthcoming Census 2027 is poised to play a defining role in shaping the country’s public policies, economic strategies, and political landscape. While the COVID-19 pandemic was the initial cause of the delay in the census process, the delay was further prolonged due to the country’s election schedules.
The magnitude of the effort is staggering. Over 3 million government officials are to fan out across the country over the next year to conduct a door-to-door survey of the country’s population of over 1.4 billion people. From the remotest corners of the country to the most populous cities, the aim of the census is to create a comprehensive picture of the way India lives and breathes today.
A census that shapes policy and funding
Census data plays a critical role in government policies and decision-making regarding the allocation of funds. Data produced through the census is used to determine where new schools and healthcare facilities will be located, as well as what other types of infrastructure will be built. Additionally, census data serves as the basis for the allocation of federal funding for each state.
Without the information from the census, government agencies will have to rely on outdated information to make decisions about the allocation of resources. Consequently, the allocation of resources has been inefficient. A census is planned for the year 2027 to remedy those inefficiencies. This census will provide updated information about the demographics of the country, which will include information about levels of employment, household conditions, and access to basic services.
Political implications and delimitation
In addition to the economic implications, the census also has political implications. The information gathered will be used to guide the delimitation of constituencies. Delimitation is the redrawing of boundaries of constituencies in Parliament. This has been on hold since 2002. Once the census is complete, the number of constituencies each state is allocated will be changed.
Thus, Census 2027 is not just a statistical exercise, and its importance extends beyond numbers and statistics, as it has the potential to change the political map of the country. States with higher population growth rates might gain, and others might lose political ground. Thus, this exercise has captured the interest of political stakeholders too, apart from policymakers and statisticians.
India’s first fully digital census
One of the most important changes in Census 2027 has been its shift to a fully digital census, a first in the history of Indian censuses, whereby the exercise has been fully digitalized, and enumerators are using mobile applications to record data in real time, while citizens also have the option to fill in the forms online through a secure portal, which generates a unique identification number, to be later verified by enumerators.
The shift to a digital census promises greater accuracy, less time lag, and a reduction in errors, and also marks a shift toward digital governance, a phenomenon gaining traction in India, whereby digital tools are increasingly employed to improve governance and administrative processes.
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New questions, new realities
The actual questionnaire has also undergone a change to incorporate the realities of the changing social and economic scenario of the country. While the number of questions has decreased slightly, the focus is on more relevant aspects of contemporary living. Questions on the use of the internet, the use of smartphones, the type of fuel used for cooking, and the number of cars people own are some of the areas the census would focus on.
Another significant change in the census would be the recognition of non-traditional family units. Live-in relationships would now be recognized as married couples. Caste would also find a place in the census. While this has sparked a lot of debate on the implications of caste on reservations and political benefits, the fact remains that the census is a significant tool in understanding the realities of the country and the people who live here.
The actual process of the census would begin with a brief period of online self-registration. After this would come the actual verification process by millions of officials who would set out to compile what is essentially India’s most detailed self-portrait. Once the process is complete, the actual benefits would begin to manifest in various aspects of the country’s functioning.
Census 2027 is not just about counting people. It is about understanding the changes India has undergone and using this understanding to forge a path into the future.
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