The 4-year-long delayed census of India due to the COVID pandemic is likely to be held in 2025, followed by delimitation of Lok Sabha seats by 2028, said Indain Express, citing sources. This information has come into light as the opposition initiates its demands for inclusion of caste as a category in the census, along with existing categories of demographics, religion, social class, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, etc.
However, it is expected that these categories will be further subdivided in the upcoming census of India. According to Business Today, the extension of the central deputation of the currently serving Registrar General and Census Commission of India is till August 2026. This further hints at the possibility of expectations for the Census in 2025.
Census of India
The census in India has been conducted for every 10 years till 2011, as its the latest among all. The first census was conducted in 1881. However, after 2011, the census, which was to be held in 2021, has been delayed since then due to unavoidable circumstances of the COVID pandemic. But to address the nuanced issues of the current times, policy making and implementation require the latest information on the Indian population with numbers of all the different socioeconomic and demographic categories. Therefore, it is high time for a new census to be conducted.
Delimitation of Lok Sabha Seats
As the government is set to prepare for the next Lok Sabha polls, it has plans to conduct delimitations of seats by 2028. The delimitation is redefining the boundaries of the constituencies for better representation according to the existing population. Therefore, it is set to be done after holding the census in 2025. Concerns have been raised by southern leaders that due to the difference in populations of the Northern States and Southern States, there might be unfair representation as the former has a higher population than the latter. However, these concerns have been addressed by assurances that such unfair representation will be avoided.
Conclusion
While the inclusion of caste-based categories in the census has not been finalized, the debates have been rising on it, with stronger support in favouring it from opposition parties and its leaders. Including caste as a category has its benefits and problems attached with it. As it can help with numbers of different caste groups for a better understanding of nuanced issues, but it also normalises the idea of caste in India. And this negative aspect will create hurdles for stopping caste based discrimination in India.
