Page 22 - NIS English 16-31 May, 2026

The World’s Largest Census: 2027
Preparation for Viksit Bharat

Administrative Units Frozen
Census Expenditure
Census operations n For providing a stable framework for enumeration activities,
are conducted under administrative units have been frozen from 1 January 2026 to
the purview of the March 31, 2027.
Union List (Entry
246) and the Census n Pre-tests for Phase I were successfully conducted as early as
Act, 1948. November 2025.

In Terms of Preparedness n A compre-
hensive
January 2026 directory
`11,718.24 crore A conference was convened manual for
sanctioned by the Government of involving the chief the first
India for the 2027 Census. secretaries of states, state phase has
nodal officers, and directors been pre-
This allocation covers of census operations. pared in 19
expenses such languages.
as enumerators’
honorariums, training, n To ensure uniformity and facilitate
IT infrastructure, logistics, and other related smooth operations, circulars outlining
costs. Since the census falls under the Union standardised procedures and guidelines
List, these funds are expended by the Central have been issued at the national level.
Government; the census machinery of the state n To ensure the timely execution of
governments provides assistance in this process. census activities, a detailed calendar
for the entire programme has been
formulated and is currently undergo-
ing rigorous monitoring.

All data collected under the Census Act, census covering the entirety of India on a uniform basis

1948, remains strictly confidential and was conducted in the year 1881. Since then, a census
has been conducted regularly every ten years. The
is used solely for statistical purposes and census of 1901, in particular, included a detailed anal-
development planning. All residents ysis and classification of castes and occupations. The
are requested to extend full cooperation first census following independence was conducted in

to enumerators during the houselisting 1951. The report of this census deviated entirely from
the pattern of previous census reports. It attempted to
operations and actively participate in this explain past changes in the size and structure of India’s
important national exercise. population, as well as to highlight the population’s
standard of living and its associated implications. The
report results also presented an argument regarding

20 NEW INDIA SAMACHAR || May 16-31, 2026