India's long-delayed census process to begin in 2025
The Indian government will launch the long-delayed decadal census process in 2025, reports said. The exercise was originally scheduled for 2020-21 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The census is expected to be completed by 2026 after which the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats will begin, based on the latest census data.
Delimitation exercise and women's reservation bill
The delimitation exercise is expected to be concluded by 2028, before the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. This exercise will redraw constituency boundaries according to the new population data. Once both the census and delimitation exercises are completed, the women's reservation bill passed by Parliament will be implemented.
Caste-based enumeration and digital advancements
There is a continued demand from opposition parties for a caste-based enumeration to better distribute resources to disadvantaged communities within existing quotas for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC). Though there is no official decision on including caste in the population count, people may mark their "sects" in enumeration forms. India's upcoming census will be its first digital census, where citizens can self-enumerate through a yet-to-be-launched portal.
Budget and leadership for the upcoming census
The entire census and National Population Register (NPR) update exercise is estimated to cost over ₹12,000 crore. However, the budget for Census 2021 was slashed from ₹3,768 crore in 2021-22 to ₹1,309 crore in the union budget for 2024-25. Mritunjay Kumar Narayan's central deputation as Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India has also been extended till August 2026, hinting at an imminent start to the delayed census processes.
