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Explained: India's Census -- What It Is, How It's Done, and Why It Matters

Hyderabad: The Union government announced on June 4 that it will conduct the long-pending nationwide census, starting on March 1, 2027, as the reference point. It is one of the most ambitious exercises undertaken by any democracy, as the nation's population according to the 2011 census was 121 crore (1.21 billion). Though it was supposed to be done in 2021, COVID caused a delay that extended to 6 years. The 2027 census would also take into account caste, an issue that has been politically contentious. Census is not just about counting people. It's about understanding who we are as a nation -- where we live, how we live, what work we do, what languages we speak, and the complex social identities we carry. Yet, for an exercise so central to governance, the census remains under-discussed and often misunderstood. Here's everything you need to know about the Indian census -- its history, methodology, the new caste angle, and the parameters it covers. A Legacy That Dates Back To The British Raj Though mentions of quantitatively studying the population have been there even in the writings of Kautilya, India's official census tradition began in colonial times, when British administrators sought detailed knowledge of the subcontinent's vast population for their administrative needs. Small population counts were done from the 18th century onwards in Madras and Bengal Presidencies, with an all-India census being conducted for the first time in 1872. The 1872 census was not comprehensive and nine years later, in 1881, the first synchronous, all India census was conducted in 1881 under the British official W.C. Plowden. The population enumerated turned out to be 253,891,821, in the 1881 census. This marked the beginning of the decennial census -- a tradition India has maintained with near religious discipline, every ten years, even after independence. Each census from 1881 onwards added layers of demographic, economic, and cultural details like religion and caste added to the evolution. For instance, the 1891 census recorded Jats and Rajputs were recorded as castes/tribes though tribe category was added in the 1901 census. The diversity of India posed a challenge to enumerators, as the same caste could be called by slightly or highly varying names in different languages; or a similar caste would have a higher or lower status based on the region. The 1931 census was the last time caste was also considered as a parameter and recorded 4147 castes; apart from recording 225 languages. The last census under British India was conducted in 1941, though the exercise was hampered by the ongoing WWII. According to the 1941 census, the population recorded was 386,666,623, marking a 52% increase in population from the 1881 census. The 1941 census was also when all the different castes were grouped under one monolithic - Hindu - identity. Census In Post-Independence India After 1947, it became imperative for India to conduct a nationwide census for policy-making and progress. The Census of India Act that came into force in 1948, mandates the Indian government to conduct a periodic census and in 1951, independent India conducted its first census. This was done to understand the impact of partition and set the stage for nation building. 1951-2001 Censuses The 1951 census recorded 361,088,090 crore people in the country, with a literacy rate of 16.67%. It was during this census that the National Registry of Citizens Assam was conducted. The 1951 census saw a growth of 13.32% from the 1941 census. The 1961 census also saw the recognition of 1652 mother-tongues as declared by individuals but this caused confusion as dialects, sub-dialects, and dialectical clusters were mixed up by individuals. The population recorded was 438,936,918, showing an increase of 21.62% from the last census. The 1971 and 1981 censuses recorded 547,949,809 and 685,184,692 respectively, with a growth rate of 24.84% and 25.04% each. Assam was excluded in the 1981 census owing to the separatist movements going on in the state then, and data was extrapolated based on earlier data and average growth rate. In a similar manner, the 1991 census saw the exclusion of Jammu and Kashmir from the census and data for the state was extrapolated based on the religious community data in the state. This census recognised 1576 mother tongues and also noted 22 languages with over 10 lakh (1 million) speakers each. Interestingly, it was enumerated that India has 49,736 Sanskrit speakers in this census. The population grew to 838,583,988 crore in the 1991 census, marking a decadal growth rate of 22.38%. The growth rate started declining in 1991 and though the population has increased since then, the growth rate has been falling. India crossed the 100 crore (1 billion) mark in the 2001 census, as a population of 1,028,737,436 was recorded. The population grew 21.5% from 1991 to 2001. 2011 Census The 2011 census, conducted with the motto Our Census, Our Future, saw some firsts. This was the first time biometric information was collected, the first time India and Bangladesh conducted a joint-census along the border, a "no religion" category added for the first time, and, in a progressive move, India also enumerated transgender population as a separate category for the first time in 2011. There were speculations that a comprehensive caste census would be conducted in 2011 but instead, a Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC 2011) was conducted on a voluntary-disclosure basis as opposed to the mandates of the 1948 Census of India Act. SECC 2011 was the first paperless census in India, conducted on digital devices. 27 lakh enumerators conducted the 2011 census, registering 1,210,854,977 individuals in the country, marking a growth of 17.7% from 2001. Another interesting element of the 2011 census was that the financial cost of conducting it ₹2,200 crore (US$260 million) came out to be about US$0.50 per individual, far less than the global average of US$4.60 per individual. In essence, the Indian census of 2011 is arguably the most cost-effective census globally. The effective literacy rate (which takes into account the population above the age of 7 that can read and write any one language) was recorded at 74.04%, compared to 16.67% in 1951. But in a twist of history, the 2021 Census -- India's 16th -- was postponed, marking the longest gap in 140 years, due largely to the COVID-19 pandemic and administrative delays. How Is the Census Conducted? A Two-Phase Operation The census in India is overseen by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is conducted in two major phases, usually spaced a few months apart.

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