NEW DELHI: With no clarity on the population census 2021, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM) has criticized the Government for keeping the decision to conduct an official population count in abeyance for an indefinite period since 2019.
The CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said that it is criminal to further postpone Census 2021.
“Census data is vital for policy formulations and for focusing on programmes for marginalised people & economically backward regions. Since it started in 1881 it continued uninterrupted even during the two World Wars!,” Yechury tweeted.
The CPIM leader’s tweet was in reaction to the statement of the union home ministry in Lok Sabha, where the minister of state in the ministry of home affairs Nityanand Rai had said that the conduct of Census 2021, updating of the National Population Register and the related field activities were postponed due to outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic ‘until further orders’.
“We have not forgotten how ruthlessly (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) and (Home Minister Amit) Shah campaigned in large rallies in W Bengal during the pandemic when due to their callous Covid and vaccine policies, so many of us lost loved ones. Now, no Census due to Covid? “Until further orders”? Shameful,” his second tweet read.
Congress MP Abdul Khaleque from Barpeta has sought to know the norms to conduct a population census every 10 years and progress made pertaining to preparation for National Population Register.
In his response, Rai stated that the first synchronous Census was conducted in 1881 thereafter it has taken place every ten years and the last census was conducted in 2011.
“The intent of the Government for conducting Census 2021 was notified in the Gazette of India on 28th March 2019. Subsequently, a notification under Citizenship Rules was published in the Gazette of India on 31st July 2019 to prepare and update the Population Register along with the first phase of the Census i.e. House listing and Housing Census. However, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conduct of Census 2021, updating of National Population Register and the related field activities have been postponed until further orders,” the minister said.
In response to another question, Rai further informed the Parliament on Tuesday that the next census will be an app-based exercise, adding, “the forthcoming Census will be the first digital Census and there is a provision for self-enumeration.”
“Mobile apps for the collection of data and a census portal for the management and monitoring of various census-related activities have been developed,” he added.