{"id":29202,"date":"2024-09-09T18:11:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T12:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=29202"},"modified":"2024-09-09T18:11:36","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T12:41:36","slug":"delay-in-conducting-census-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/09-09-2024\/delay-in-conducting-census-in-india","title":{"rendered":"Delay in Conducting Census in India\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has dissolved the <strong>14-member Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS).<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The official reason stated that the c<strong>ommittee\u2019s work overlapped with that of the recently formed Steering Committee for National Sample Surveys.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>SCoS was formed in <strong>2023<\/strong>, and was supposed to <strong>advise the Union government on survey methodology,<\/strong> including sampling frame, sampling design, and survey instruments, and to finalise a tabulation plan of surveys.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India\u2019s decennial census <\/strong>has been conducted every ten years since the 1870s, and the last census was conducted in 2011.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The next, scheduled for 2021, was initially delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has yet to be notified.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A number of economists have expressed concerns that the data sets used for most statistical surveys are still being drawn from the 2011 census, impacting their accuracy and quality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is the Census?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Census refers to a <strong>periodic and systematic collection<\/strong> of demographic, economic, and social data of a population within a specific region.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is typically conducted by governments to gather <strong>detailed information about the population&#8217;s characteristics and living conditions.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Census provides <strong>crucial data that governments, businesses, researchers, and policymakers<\/strong> use for various purposes such as planning public services, allocating funding, and making informed decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Census in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Census in India has been conducted <strong>regularly since 1871.<\/strong> The first complete Census was conducted in <strong>1881.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Constitutional Mandate: <\/strong>The Census of India is conducted under the <strong>provisions of the Census Act of 1948<\/strong>, which empowers the Government of India to conduct periodic population surveys.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Frequency:<\/strong> The Census of India is conducted decennially, meaning it takes place <strong>every ten years.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The most recent Censuses were conducted in 2011.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance of Census<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Policy Formulation:<\/strong> It provides crucial inputs for planning and formulating policies related to education, healthcare, infrastructure development, and social welfare.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Resource Allocation:<\/strong> It helps in equitable distribution of resources by providing data on population distribution, demographics, and socio-economic conditions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Demographic Trends:<\/strong> It aids in understanding demographic trends, urbanization patterns, migration flows, and population growth rates.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Monitoring Development Goals: <\/strong>The Census data is instrumental in monitoring progress towards national and international development goals, such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why There is a delay in conducting the Census in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>COVID-19 Pandemic:<\/strong> The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the scheduling and planning of various activities, including large-scale surveys like the Census.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Preparation and Planning:<\/strong> Conducting a Census in a country as vast and populous as India requires meticulous planning, resource mobilization, and coordination across various government departments.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Political and Administrative Priorities:<\/strong> Governments prioritize other activities or elections, leading to delays in the Census process.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Technological and Methodological Upgradation: <\/strong>Periodic updates and improvements in technology and methodologies used for data collection, processing, and analysis require additional time and resources.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Complexity of Data Collection:<\/strong> India&#8217;s diversity in terms of geography, languages, cultures, and socio-economic conditions poses unique challenges in conducting a comprehensive Census.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Census data should <strong>validate the various estimates on mortality<\/strong> based on \u2018excess deaths\u2019 analyses during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is imperative that <strong>decadal changes in India\u2019s demography<\/strong> related to urbanisation and migration of people across States are captured adequately.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Welfare schemes<\/strong> such as the targeted Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act depend on population estimates, and the government continues to rely on Census 2011, <strong>which is now outdated.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Considering these and other imperatives for the <strong>smooth planning and implementation of administrative, welfare and statistical management<\/strong> for governance, the government must show eagerness in commencing the Census.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/centre-dissolves-pronab-sen-headed-standing-committee-on-statistics-after-members-question-census-delay\/article68618687.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has dissolved the 14-member Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29203,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29202\/revisions\/29203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}