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Population census at last: Several pending issues need fresh attention
There was a polarisation of views on getting the caste data included in the Census, with the government taking a negative posture while the Opposition was united in demanding it
Amitabh Kundu P C Mohanan
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The government has announced that the next population census along with caste counting will be done in 2027. The census was due in 2021 but was postponed due to the Covid pandemic. The preparations for the first phase of the Census 2021 were complete, and house listing work was scheduled during April-September 2020 and population count in February 2021. The passage of almost six years would mean that basic exercises would have to begin afresh.
There was a polarisation of views on getting the caste data included in the Census, with the government taking a negative posture while the Opposition

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Indian Express
36 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Dharmendra Yadav: ‘SP's alliance with Congress intact in UP … When was Imran Masood given the power to make calls on seat sharing?'
The tension between INDIA bloc allies Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress in Uttar Pradesh was rekindled last month after Congress MP Imran Masood said the '80-17 formula' won't work in the 2027 Assembly elections. Masood was referring to the seat-sharing arrangement for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that saw the Congress contest 17 of UP's 80 parliamentary seats, while the rest went to the SP. The parties reaped the benefits of the alliance, with the alliance outperforming the BJP-led NDA. But the road to the seat-sharing agreement was mired in tension, which came to the fore during the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in October 2023. The SP's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Dharmendra Yadav, who is also party chief Akhilesh Yadav's cousin, speaks to The Indian Express about the alliance with the Congress, the INDIA bloc's future, and the government's announcement of the caste census, among other issues. Excerpts: * Some leaders, including Congress leader P Chidambaram, have questioned whether the INDIA bloc is still together. What is your view on this? I think the alliance is doing a very good job as the Opposition in the country. The alliance is playing a positive and constructive role… The bloc has never done negative politics. * The government has decided to include caste data in the next Census. It has also announced the timeline for the Census. The government has caved to the pressure from the Samajwadi Party. In 2011, when the last Census was done, the party had demanded caste data to be included. The honourable Mulayam Singh Yadav was among us then, and he had also raised the demand for caste to be included in the Census. Other leaders, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad, and the entire Opposition were demanding a caste census. The caste census has been announced because of the movement led by the Samajwadi Party … This is a win for our struggle. * How is the SP preparing for the 2027 UP Assembly elections? It is going very well. People trust the party and our leader Akhilesh Yadav. The issues of the PDA — Pichhde (backward classes), Dalits, and Alpsankhyak (minorities) — are being raised. The people of UP have realised the future of the state lies in Akhilesh Yadav's leadership. People are unhappy with the current BJP government. Unemployment and corruption are at their peak, the law-and-order situation is at its worst, and the youth and farmers are struggling. * In the 2022 Assembly elections, the SP formed an umbrella alliance with smaller parties. Those parties have left the SP. Will there be a similar umbrella alliance in 2027? I feel the whole PDA family is with us. All sections of society are looking at Akhilesh Yadav with hope. You are right, there was an alliance in 2022 with smaller parties. But after the elections, when we couldn't form the government, these parties deserted us, and that is in front of the people. For 2027, when public support is with us, it is not important which parties are with us and which aren't. * Your alliance with the Congress made a significant impact in the Lok Sabha polls. But, before the elections, and since then too, there has been some tension. You supported the AAP in Delhi. Are there problems between the two parties? The INDIA bloc's fundamental principle was that it would go with the strongest party in the states. In Delhi, naturally, the AAP was the main Opposition party. It was in power. Today, too, they are in the Opposition in Delhi, but they are stronger than the Congress. The decision to support the AAP was as per that principle of the INDIA bloc. But this will have no impact on UP politics. Our alliance in UP is with the Congress and I have 100% hope that it will continue. And there will be a majority government of the INDIA bloc under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav in UP … If anyone is fighting for the people, it is the SP and Akhilesh Yadav. I have full faith that the Congress will help us form the government in the state. * Recently, Congress MP Imran Masood said the '80-17 formula' won't work in 2027. He said the SP won't decide the seats that the Congress will contest. I believe that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi can take such a decision. I don't know when the Congress gave Masood the power to make such calls. The top leadership of the Congress will decide based on the ground reality. * How many seats will the SP be willing to leave for the Congress? Akhilesh Yadav will decide that. We are Samajwadis, we follow our leader … Those falling into the BJP's trap can speculate on such things. We won't fall into these traps.


Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Census opens the door for National Population Register update
The announcement of Census, to be conducted in two phases in 2026 and 2027, opens the doors to not only delimitation and the implementation of the Women's Reservation Bill but also paves the way for the National Population Register (NPR) to be updated and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise. Sources said that while the NPR would likely be updated during the house listing phase of the Census next year, taking it forward to the NRC remains the government's decision. The issues of NPR and NRC earlier led to widespread protests from the public as well as Opposition parties in the wake of the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019. As many as 10 states — Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — and the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry passed resolutions in their Assemblies in 2020 against NPR and NRC. While the government's announcement on Wednesday made no mention of either NPR or NRC, Census enumeration and updating the NPR were cleared back in December 2019 by the Cabinet. It was then supposed to happen in 2020 along with the housing listing phase of the Census, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has already allocated a budget of close to Rs 4000 crore for the exercise. The NPR is the precursor to the NRC and the same stands enshrined in law. The NPR, which is an enumeration of the 'usual residents' of the country and is a data collection exercise based on voluntary disclosure of information by people, is governed by the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. The rules were framed under sub-sections (1) and (3) of Section 18 of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Under Rule 3, which provides for NRC, sub-rule (4), says, 'The Central Government may, by an order issued in this regard, decide a date by which the Population Register shall be prepared by collecting information relating to all persons who are usually residing within the jurisdiction of Local Registrar.' Sub-rule (5) of the Rule then says, ' The Local Register of Indian citizens shall contain details of persons after due verification made from the Population Register.' Under Rule 4, titled 'Preparation of the National Register of Indian Citizens', sub-rule 4 says, 'During the verification process, particulars of such individuals, whose Citizenship is doubtful, shall be entered by the Local Registrar with appropriate remark in the Population Register for further enquiry and in case of doubtful Citizenship, the individual or the family shall be informed in a specified proforma immediately after the verification process is over.' Under Rule 7, the head of the family is supposed to provide correct information to enumerators during the NPR exercise, failing which he shall be penalised (under Rule 17) with a fine extending up to Rs 1,000. The data for NPR was first collected in 2010 along with the house listing phase of the 2011 Census. In 2015, this data was further updated in a door-to-door survey. However, with the Narendra Modi government in 2016 picking out Aadhaar as the key vehicle for the transfer of government benefits and putting its weight behind it, the NPR took a backseat. Through a notification on August 3, 2019, the Registrar General of India (RGI) revived it. Sources said the RGI had already prepared the NPR proforma and the digitisation of the 2015 data is complete. The decision had come against the backdrop of a nationwide stir against the CAA, the proposed nationwide NRC, and the NRC process in Assam that excluded 19 lakh people. This exacerbated anxiety around the idea of citizenship in the country. At the time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah repeatedly said there would be a nationwide NRC. He also tried to explain a certain 'chronology' in which the CAA would come first and the NRC would follow. However, following protests against the CAA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in December 2019 that the government had not yet decided on conducting the NRC. It was a stand that Shah and the MHA subsequently reiterated on multiple occasions. Conducting the NRC had been inserted in the Citizenship Act of 1955 through an amendment in 2003 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The government at the time, among other amendments, inserted Section 14A into the principal Act that says, 'The Central Government may compulsorily register every citizen of India and issue national identity card to him … The Central Government may maintain a National Register of Indian Citizens and for that purpose establish a National Registration Authority … On and from the date of commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, the Registrar General, India, appointed under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (18 of 1969) shall act as the National Registration Authority and he shall function as the Registrar General of Citizen Registration.'


Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
No concensus? Why counting castes in India is a minefield
No concensus? Why counting castes in India is a minefield Himanshi Dhawan TNN Updated: Jun 7, 2025, 18:52 IST IST With too many castes, fluid identities and rising demands for representation, the exercise is going to be a fraught affair Dalit rights activist Suraj Yengde was once asked in an interview if after all his scholarship and travels overseas, did his caste still matter. 'It follows me,' he said, 'like a shadow.' The government plans to kick off the Census along with caste enumeration from April 1, 2026, a task almost as hard as counting shadows. The decision has been controversial with some reviving the Dalit leader and BSP founder Kanshi Ram's slogan ' jiski jitni sankhya bhari, uski utni hissedari ' (greater the number, greater the share) with the hope that the exercise will finally bring the issue of social justice front and centre in Indian politics.