India's long-delayed census will begin in September, expected to be completed by 2026
India's decennial census was scheduled to be held in 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the process was delayed for an indefinite time.
The Modi government has been criticized for the delayed census for a long time. The opposition has continuously pointed out the government’s failure in conducting the decennial census. Now, in a positive development, some sources closely linked with the government have confirmed that India is likely to begin the long-delayed census in September. The process is expected to be completed by 2026, as the sources say it will take 18 months to finish.
India’s decennial census was scheduled to be held in 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the process was delayed for an indefinite time. Since then, the country has been waiting for the population count. The Congress-led INDIA bloc has repeatedly bashed the government for the indefinite delay in the census.
Impact of the Long-Delayed Census on Economic Data
This delay garnered major criticism from the economists within and outside the government. They believe that the delay is impacting the quality of many other statistical surveys, including economic data, inflation, and job estimates. Currently, all the government schemes are based on the 2011 census, which is not relevant after 13 years.
As per the officials, the roadmap for the census is in place. The Ministry of Home Affairs, which generally leads the census along with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, has prepared a timeline and is aiming to release results by March 2026, covering 15 years from the last census. According to one of the sources, the final approval is yet to come from Modi’s office.
After the 2024 budget sanctioned just 1,309 crore for the process, the experts believed that the long-awaited census would see a continued delay as the amount was much less for the census. It was speculated that the process would require nearly 12,00 crore.
United Nations, in its last year’s report, mentioned that India has surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation. However, the Home Ministry and Statistics ministries resisted responding to emailed requests for comment.
The Modi government is also trying to add accurate improvements by updating its economic data, including retail inflation. They are planning to reweight different categories, including food, which will show the changes in the consumption pattern.
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