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New Delhi: The Centre intends to commence the next census, a formal count of the population, in 2025 following a four-year postponement, with the process anticipated to extend into 2026.
This shift implies that future census cycles will undergo significant changes. Subsequent to the census, the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies is slated, and expected to conclude by 2028.
This announcement came a week after the Centre prolonged the tenure of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, until 2026 to supervise the decennial census.
The Opposition has criticized the Narendra Modi-led government for the delay in the decennial Census program and has called for a caste-based Census. Originally set for April 2020, the Census was deferred due to the COVID-19 outbreak and has been pending since, with no new schedule announced by the Centre.
In August, Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the Census would be conducted when appropriate, promising to reveal the methodology once decided.
During the June Lok Sabha elections, the Congress pledged to carry out a caste census if voted into power. Rahul Gandhi, along with several opposition leaders, has been vocal about the need for a caste census, accusing the Centre of inequitable representation of society’s marginalized groups.
In September, the news agency PTI reported that the Centre had initiated preparations for the decennial census but had not made any decisions regarding the inclusion of caste as a category. Conducted every ten years since 1881, the Census aims to gather detailed demographic and socio-economic data of the populace.
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