A big update regarding Census has come out, where Centre is expected to begin Census- an official count of the people living in a country by 2025. This notice comes after four-year delay, the last census report was published in 2011 and next was scheduled for 2021 as per rules. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs conducts census in India within gap of 10 years. Post-Independence, seven censuses have been conducted so far, with the last census being held on 2011. The 2021 census was initially delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, as per the latest reports, Centre will conduct census from 2025 and it will continue till 2026. It’s been also reported that following the census, delimitation of Lok Sabha seats will happen by 2028.
This decision comes when there is a pressing demand from the opposition to conduct caste based census. However, the government has not issued any official statement about census on public.
While the official notification on Census is awaited from the Centre, reports have circulated that Centre might include surveys of sub-sects within the General and Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) categories.
Congress leader Manickam Tagore has targeted the Centre over its stance on Caste-based Census. He wrote on X, “Modi’s refusal to conduct a #CasteCensus is a clear betrayal of OBC communities. Ignoring the voices demanding justice, he’s denying our people their due representation—all because of political arrogance. Will RSS, JDU,&TDP stand with the people or stay silent? #OBCBetrayed.”
What Is Delimitation?
As per The Election Commission of India (ECI), delimitation is defined as the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body. The job of delimitation is assigned to a high power body. Such a body is known as Delimitation Commission or a Boundary Commission.
The Delimitation Commission of India has been established by the Government of India under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act, to redraw the boundaries of legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on the last census. The present delimitation has been done on the basis of 2001 Census.
