• By Kamal Kumar
  • Tue, 23 Jul 2024 11:00 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

Union Budget 2024: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs 1309.46 crore for the census, a monetary allocation significantly lower than what was needed to carry out the decadal exercise. This indicates that the exercise may not be carried out this year as well, even after a significant delay. Notably, the last census of India was held in 2011.

Earlier, in 2019, the central government had approved a proposal to conduct a census of India at a cost of Rs 8,754.23 crore and update the National Population Register (NPR) for Rs 3,941.35 crore, PTI reported.

Census 2021 Was Postponed Due To Covid

The exercise, supposed to begin in April 2020, was postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. In the first phase, house listing was proposed for six months till September 2020. Since then, the important decadal exercise has remained on hold, and the centre has yet to notify a schedule for its resumption.

As the country has just witnessed the conclusion of the general election, the census can not be carried out this year, officials said. The entire census and NPR exercise is likely to cost the government over Rs 12,000 crore, the officials said.

According to the Budget 2024-25, Rs 1,309.46 crore has been allocated for census surveys and statistics, and it was Rs 578.29 in 2023-24.

Congress Slams Centre

Meanwhile, the Congress party criticised the central government for not announcing the census of India even after a significant delay.

"It is highly disappointing that the Finance Minister's announcement on Data and Statistics makes no mention of releasing funds for the decadal Population Census that was supposed to have taken place in 2021, but has still not been conducted," Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said in an X post.

Next Census To Go Digital

In a groundbreaking move, the upcoming digital census will offer citizens the unprecedented opportunity to self-enumerate, marking the first time this method has been used. Participation in the National Population Register (NPR) will be mandatory for those opting to complete the census form independently, bypassing government enumerators.

To facilitate this process, the census authority has developed a self-enumeration portal, which is set to launch soon. During self-enumeration, citizens will be required to provide either their Aadhaar number or mobile number.