How to conduct Censuses efficiently in India

[This Note was submitted to the Cabinet Secretary by E-Mail on 23-10-2024]

Summary

Census is internationally recognized as small area statistics. Reforms in conducting censuses will bring about overall improvement in the entire statistical system. The allocation of subjects under the Allocation of Business Rules permitted compartmentalization in conducting censuses on different subjects by different Departments without any linkage. The 2021 decennial population census could not be carried out due to Covid-19 pandemic. In order to reduce the impact of similar disruptions to the planning of future censuses, there is now more interest in the use of administrative data together with online data collection methods. Reduction in cost would be highly substantial (around 70 %) if India gives up traditional method of census taking and adopts development of administrative sources for the purpose.

Apart from not producing statistics of reasonably small areas, Indian traditional Censuses suffer from certain vices such as duplication, not linking and integrating data of other sources, delay in dissemination, and undesirable confidentiality. Developing registers-based administrative sources to conduct all kinds of censuses would be a solution to remove such deficiencies. Comprehensive population census data must be released once in ten years in the years ending with “0” starting from the year 2030, consistent with international recommendations. All the preparatory activities must be completed to meet that target. Smallest possible areal units without any restriction on minimum population size, to be known as Enumeration Blocks (EBs), with unique geo-codes and in each EB identifying Houses / Structures, Establishments, Households, Entrepreneurs, and Persons etc., with unique codes would form an Address Information System (AIS). Using AIS, all the local authorities would maintain their data online. A National Office for Statistical Registers and Censuses (NOSRC) may be established under the Cabinet Secretariat to coordinate all activities for maintaining statistical registers, conducting all censuses and disseminating data through a dedicated network. Existing staff resources would be subsumed into the NOSRC and State level nodal offices. New legislation may be enacted to empower the NOSRC and other offices to perform all the required functions.

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Introduction

Data of censuses conducted from time to time on different subjects form the backbone for any national statistical system. Reforms in conducting censuses will bring about overall improvement in the entire statistical system. Census is internationally recognized as small area statistics, meaning thereby that summary data at the disaggregated level (at the level of well-defined small areas) would be periodically available to users within and outside the Government. Politicians, Policy makers, Public spirited persons, Government at all levels, and the general public need statistics at the smallest possible level for their participation in policy formulation or informed debate.

Legislative and executive competence for conducting censuses is derived from Entry – 69 (census) of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the Census Act, 1948 and the Rules made thereunder, the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008 and the Rules made thereunder, and the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 [in short, AOBR]. The allocation of subjects under the AOBR permits conducting censuses on different subjects in India by the concerned Central Ministries / Departments, as and when required. Office of the Registrar General of India (ORGI) under the Ministry of Home Affairs conducts decennial human population census, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) conducts Economic Census, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DAFW) conducts Agricultural Census, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) conducts Livestock Census, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MMSME) conducts Census of Small Scale Industries, Ministry of Textiles (MT) conducts Census of Handlooms and Handicrafts, and Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) conducts Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC). Besides, the MRD provided financial and technical support to the States / UTs for conducting Below the Poverty Line (BPL) Census in the year 2002, to identify BPL families living in the rural areas.

Planning of Population Census 2021

India has been following a system of conducting decennial population censuses in the years ending with “1”, since 1881. The Union Cabinet approved the proposal for conducting Census of India 2021 at a cost of Rs. 8,754.23 crore and updation of National Population Register (NPR) at a cost of Rs. 3,941.35 crore. It was planned to conduct the census in two phases, namely, House listing and Housing Census during April to September 2020 and Population Enumeration during 9^th February to 28^th February 2021 with about 30 lakh field functionaries using mobile app for data collection.  But the 2021 decennial population census could not be carried out due to Covid-19 pandemic. While its revised schedule has not been announced yet, there are demands / promises coming up from some of the political parties / a few State Governments for conducting a caste census or a skill census. Each Census, being conducted till now in the traditional manner, is a gigantic exercise involving huge resources, human and financial. Given the enormous resource requirements, it is neither easy nor feasible to conduct a census, as and when demanded.

International developments on censuses

Since the plan of conducting population census in 2021 could not succeed, it would be fair to review and understand the international developments on this issue before proceeding further. In its Report on its forty-sixth session (3-6 March 2015), the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) recognized the increasing importance of integrating the population and housing censuses with other types of censuses, civil registration and vital statistics and other statistical activities, such as the census of agriculture, census of establishments and administrative data sets. Based on the report of UNSC, the UN Economic and Social Council in its resolution dated 10 June 2015 endorsed the 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme, which comprises a number of activities aimed at ensuring that Member States conduct a population and housing census during the period from 2015 to 2024.

The UN Handbook of Principles and Practices on Using Administrative and Secondary Sources for Official Statistics noted that although the set-up costs of using administrative sources to produce statistical outputs can easily be as high as the set-up costs for a statistical survey, the running costs are usually significantly lower and that the huge differences in the cost per head of population between Finland (total cost: 0.8 million euros, cost per person: 0.2 euro), where the census was totally based on administrative sources, and other countries such as the United Kingdom (total cost: 367 million euros, cost per person: 6.2 euros) and Austria (total cost: 56 million euros, cost per person: 6.9 euros), where traditional paper questionnaires were used, is perhaps the strongest argument available for greater use of administrative data. At the cost at which Finland could conduct its census using only administrative sources, in Indian conditions, for an estimated projected population of 145 crores, the estimated cost (taking per head cost as 0.2 euros or 0.2 x 91 rupees) of conducting a census using the same methodology (using only administrative sources) would be Rs. 2,639 crores (around 30% of the cost approved by the Cabinet for conducting traditional census). The Handbook also noted that in case of Finland, it is possible to produce population census data from administrative sources on an annual basis, whereas countries using more traditional methods can only afford to produce these data every five or ten years. Thus, reduction in cost would be highly substantial if India gives up traditional method of census taking and adopts development of administrative sources for the purpose.

The Handbook on Registers-based Population and Housing Censuses brought out by the UN Statistics Division recognized that administrative registers generated by government offices and service providers are becoming an increasingly important source of data for official statistics, and particularly for producing census information. The Handbook also observed that in order to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the implementation of 2020 round of censuses (with a view, in particular, to avoid direct contact between enumerators and the public), there is now more interest in the use of administrative data and online data collection methods. Many countries that have used a traditional census or combined censuses with a large-scale field data collection have faced particular challenges in doing so during the Covid-19 pandemic and have had to postpone their censuses for more than a year. In order to reduce the impact of similar disruptions to the planning of future censuses, there is now more interest in the use of administrative data together with online data collection methods.

Recognising that switching over from traditional to other approaches with the use of administrative data for a census is a very complex issue, the Handbook noted that transition to a register-based methodology requires a number of necessary pre-conditions to be fulfilled, namely, –

• the existence of legal authority for the National Statistical Office (NSO) to receive and use administrative data for statistical purposes;
• public approval / acceptance for the use of personal information for such statistical purposes;
• good cooperation between the NSO and the holders of the administrative data; and
• a population register and an established system for accurately linking unit records between (potentially) many different data sources.

In an increasing number of countries, the development of a register of all addresses with attached geographical codes provides advantageous input for the preparation of very precise census maps. Combining different layers of geographical and infrastructure features with the geocodes from the address registers enables the creation of maps showing the precise location of dwellings relative to the surrounding features. This approach can be optimized by the use of mobile devices for enumeration, as they enable precise census enumeration maps to be uploaded, thus minimizing the time needed to locate housing units within the enumeration area. If a population registration system is in place, the address lists can be easily generated from the registers. Those lists can be updated during enumeration and used for improving the population registers by reporting any discrepancies found in the field. In some countries, the existence and regular maintenance of the register of addresses provides an invaluable resource.

Deficiencies in Indian Censuses

In India, population census data at village level in rural areas and at ward level in urban areas is disseminated. Undoubtedly, data at a much smaller level would be required, particularly in respect of urban areas, because ward is a large area in many cases. On reviewing Indian Censuses in the light of international developments, one would know that apart from the vice of not producing statistics of reasonably small areas in a substantial number of situations, there are other shortcomings to be addressed, such as duplication (resulting in wastage of resources), not taking up the exercise of linking and integrating data of other censuses (resulting in restricting the use of data), not enlisting people’s participation to the desired level in conducting census, ignoring administrative sources which already contain some data proposed to be collected in a census, established history of undue delay or heavy time lag (3-5 years after completion of field operations) in disseminating census data after conducting a census (public may lose interest), and undesirable confidentiality (making data not user friendly) in respect of some characteristics.

Another deficiency in our censuses is lack of an agenda or even planning to link / integrate data from censuses on different subjects and from other sources. As of now, housing census is conducted a few months prior to population census and the data of both the censuses is linked / integrated. But no such action is taking place with respect to data of other censuses. The main reason for this is the lack of provision for key identifiers, such as household / establishment numbers, personal identification numbers and most importantly location identification numbers. Because of not linking / integrating unit level data from different sources, we have not been harnessing the great potential the data has been providing. Although it is undoubtedly a great challenge, it is highly cost effective and useful.

What did the Rangarajan Commission say about censuses?

The Rangarajan Commission appointed by the Government in its report (2001) made a number of recommendations to improve the statistical system, which include a few about censuses. Some of the recommendations are given below:

These recommendations indicate the concerns even in those days of the Commission relating to integration of censuses, developing unique codes for areas, establishments and persons for facilitating matching, linking and integration, dissemination of results with bottom-up approach, and avoiding duplication where possible.

What is duplication in censuses?

Since our resources are very limited, the issue of duplication is a very important issue to be addressed, to check wastage. Given that the life expectancy at birth in India is over 67 years, one can easily infer that on an average, a person would be covered in at least six consecutive population censuses. In other words, part of the data for such persons would be common between two consecutive censuses. For example, data in respect of housing, name, sex, date of birth, religion, SC / ST, mother tongue, and literacy etc., may not change in many cases from one census to its following census, particularly in rural areas. The data gets collected afresh in every census because past data is not made available to enumerators for updating. Even in cases where the boundaries of a Census Enumeration Block (EB) earmarked in a census remain the same in the subsequent census, past data is not made available to enumerators / households for updating. The manner in which the confidentiality clause, namely, section 15 of the Census Act, 1948 is interpreted at present perhaps prevents previous census records from being made available in subsequent censuses. Collecting again afresh a substantial amount of data in a Census, which is already available, and which may not require any updating, undoubtedly amounts to duplication and wastage of resources.

Similarly, conducting separate censuses on other subjects which involve enumerating again all the houses / structures / households is also a duplication. If a Census conducted by one Department does not meet the data requirements of other Central Departments or if it gets outdated, the concerned Department may conduct a census, which involves fresh listing of houses / structures / households. Economic Census, Census of Small Scale Industries, Census of Handlooms and Handicrafts, Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), BPL Census could be examples of this type of partial duplication. Departments conducting census on their assigned subject separately, although not going to be an easy proposition, is a kind of compartmentalization permitted under the AOBR and if this kind of duplication in respect of censuses is allowed to continue, things will not improve. If part of the data collected in a census is already available from the Government (at different levels) administrative sources, collecting such data again in a census also amounts to duplication. Duplication straight away results in wastage of human and financial resources and precious time. It also increases respondents’ burden in furnishing data. There are ways and means to address this problem.

What is confidentiality in census data?

Confidentiality of data has to be perceived and applied keeping in view the Indian society. Data confidentiality refers to protection of data from unauthorized access and disclosure, including means for protecting personal privacy and proprietary information. Everything in census data cannot be confidential. A line has to be drawn and pre-specified, clearly defining which portion of the data is confidential and which portion is not. While doing so, conditions and culture of the Indian society have to be kept in view and blindly following western customs will not help. For example, data on a person’s name, age, sex, and marital status may not be confidential, but a person’s phone number and medical record may be confidential. In the case of establishments, financial records, trade secrets, and marketing strategies may be treated as confidential whereas information on ownership, registration, and employment size may not be confidential.

The 2011 House-listing and Housing Census Schedule provided for the following information:

Building no., Census house no., Predominant material of floor, wall and roof of census house, Use of census house, condition of the census house, For census houses used wholly or partly for residential purposes household no., no. of persons normally residing, name of the Head, Sex, SC / ST / Others, ownership status, no. of dwelling rooms, no. of married couples living in the household, Amenities available in the household (Main source of drinking water, availability of  drinking water source, main source of lighting, access to latrine, type of latrine, waste water outlet connection, bathing facility available within the premises, availability of kitchen and LPG / PNG connection, Main fuel used for cooking), assets possessed by the household (availability of radio / transistor, availability of Television, access to internet, Laptop / computer, Telephone / mobile phone / smart phone, Bicycle / scooter / motorcycle/ moped, Car / Jeep / Van), Main Cerela consumed in the household

The 2011 Census Household Schedule provided for the following information:

Name of the person, Relationship to Head, Sex, Date of birth & age, Current marital status, Age at marriage, Religion, SC / ST, Disability, Mother tongue, Other languages known, Literacy status, Status of attendance in educational institution, Highest educational level attained, Characteristics of workers and non-workers (worked any time during last one year, category of economic activity for main and marginal workers, occupation, nature of industry / trade / service, class of worker, For marginal or non-workers non-economic activity, seeking or available for work, Distance and mode of travel to place of work), Migration characteristics (For persons born outside village / town birth place within or outside India, Place of last residence, reason for migration, duration of stay in the village / town after migration), Fertility particulars (Children surviving, children ever born, number of children born alive during last one year)

One can easily infer, from the above details covered in the House-listing and Housing Census Schedule and in the Household Schedule, that in the Indian conditions unlike Western countries, the nature of the information collected from any household is such that it is not considered confidential even by the members of the household. In the case of other households (including neighbouring households), they are either indifferent or ignorant or they already knew the particulars of the household. In such situations, the provision of confidentiality would be perceived as ceremonial and ritualistic.

Thus, the provision of confidentiality laid down under section 15 of the Census Act, 1948 may at times become a self-imposed fetter in respect of the information being collected and it may even encourage and promote dereliction of duties by enumerators, leading to commissions / omissions in data collection and collection of data of bad quality under the guise of confidentiality.

Sharing, Linking & integrating of data

From the users’ point of view (government itself is the biggest user of data), Official Statistics, in particular, censuses are expected to provide data at the level of designated small areal units in respect of persons, property, amenities, avocations and environment. Some of these aspects are being surveyed through separate censuses, surveys, and administrative arrangements. There was no agenda or plan till now to link the datasets at unit level and produce comprehensive results depicting data on different combinations of characteristics. Data integration at the moment is happening at an aggregate level, by producing and publishing tables at district / State level or industry level or for different size classes. It won’t suffice in the present context, when a policy maker desires to know more detailed information, such as the number of persons / households in a given district / taluk / village / town / small area having no property and of them those who are illiterate, and of them those who are unemployed. Questions of this nature can be answered only when unit level data is matched using some common identifiers and then linked and integrated to produce requisite results.

Constitutional and legal provisions on census

There is lack of clarity on census in the Constitution itself. The subject “census” is covered under Entry – 69 of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. The Parliament has enacted the Census Act, 1948 and the human population censuses are being conducted once in ten years under the provisions of this Act and the Rules made thereunder. Censuses on other subjects are conducted either on a voluntary basis or under the provision of the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008. The word ‘census’ has not been defined either in the Constitution or in the General Clauses Act, 1897 (which is used for interpreting various provisions of the Constitution) or in the Census Act, 1948, giving rise to lack of clarity. The Hindi version of the Constitution indicates ‘Janganana’ against the Entry-69, which implies only human population census. The word ‘census’ used in Article 82 (on the allocation of seats in the House of the People to the States and the division of each State into territorial constituencies, introduced through 42^nd amendment) of the Constitution also indicates only human population census. But other censuses are being conducted by the Centre, as already stated. Hence, there is a need to address this vagueness.

Similarly, the Census Act, 1948 must include provisions to clearly define the word “census” to include censuses on all subjects, consistent with its literal / dictionary meaning (an official count of a population or of a class of things, often with various statistics noted) and to enable rule making for the conduct of human population census and other censuses. Ideally, a Census law must provide for the right of citizens / subjects to be covered in a census, as and when it is notified, and for the right of citizens to know his / her own information collected in a census and summary information at small area level online. If these provisions are included in the census law, it will place the legal position on the subject of census on a clear pedestal.

Be that as it may, in recent times, the States are coming forward to conduct censuses on their own. For example, the State of Telangana is contemplating the conduct of caste census, and the State of Andhra Pradesh is planning to conduct a skill census. It may not be legally tenable for the States to conduct a census from the angle of legislative / executive competence, as the lone entry on census is in the Union List. However, given the size of most of the Indian States, stating that an Indian State does not need a census and it has to wait till the Centre plans to conduct it makes no sense as it would mean that Australia does not need a census. This problem needs to be sorted out.

Considering the largeness of the Country, it may not be feasible for the Central Government to cater to the information needs of the State/ UT Governments and the local governments through the decennial population censuses and other censuses being conducted by it at present. There is a need to provide for updating census data by these Governments, if necessary.

The Census Act, 1948, being pretty old, is not consistent, in its present shape, with the Right to Information Act, 2005 and the Information Technology Act, 2000. The Census Act does not provide for collecting information electronically, whereas the Information Technology Act, which has an overriding effect on other laws, states in Section 6 thereof that where any law provides for the filing of any form, application or any other document with any office, authority, body or agency owned or controlled by Government in a particular manner, then, notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, such requirement shall be deemed to have been satisfied if such filing is effected by such electronic form as may be prescribed by the Government.

The Right to Information Act which has also an overriding effect on other laws requires furnishing of information on demand either in paper form or in electronic mode to any citizen, except information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, information, the disclosure of which would identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement, information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual. The Census Act states that the information is confidential and it does not recognise the right of even the informants of being covered in a census and of having a copy of the information collected from them. Right of the third parties for information seems to be a distant dream under the Census Act, 1948.

Having a policy that individual data collected by statistical agencies for statistical compilation, whether they refer to natural or legal persons, are to be strictly confidential and used exclusively for statistical purposes is one of the principles of the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. Based on this, many countries made laws in which a provision has been made to release individual data after suppressing the information on identity of individuals. The National Policy on dissemination of statistical data of the Government of India (approved by the Cabinet on 9^th September 1998) and released in 1999 also inter alia laid down that validated data including unit / household / establishment level data after deleting their identification particulars to maintain confidentiality should be made available to national and international data users in the form of hard copies and on magnetic media on payment basis and that no data considered to be of sensitive nature should be supplied. The Census Act does not cover these principles on furnishing information. The Act (as per section 15) in fact provides for not furnishing information.   

The Census Act, 1948 has a lesser number of provisions about data collection and dissemination of information. It talks more about administrative aspects. It is also not a complete code on the taking of a census.

Way Forward

Since the usual decennial census has already been delayed, one should think of developing registers-based administrative sources to conduct all kinds of censuses. Census data, at least on a few characteristics, must be released annually and comprehensive population census data must be released once in ten years in the years ending with “0”, consistent with international recommendations. The first such comprehensive release must be planned in the year 2030, and all the necessary preparatory activities must be completed to meet that target.

As a part of the preparatory activities, small areas, to be called Enumeration Blocks (EBs), are to be identified in a manner that they are really small unlike large wards in urban areas. They should be the smallest possible areal units, and they should have well-defined, clear-cut and natural boundaries like roads / lanes / by-lanes with permanent landmarks and corner points, to the extent possible, without any restriction on minimum population size. In some cases, such an area may have zero population. The EBs, so identified, must also be mutually exclusive and exhaustive for any given rural / urban area, covering the length and breadth of the country. The EBs must be identified by geo-coordinates and assigned unique geo-codes. With the passage of time, a few EBs may vanish due to mutations, or they may become big due to development / construction activities carried out in that area. In the latter case, a system of sub-numbering of codes and in the former case, freezing of relevant codes has to be done. In each EB, houses / structures / property etc., have to be assigned unique identification numbers. These unique numbers along with unique codes of EBs form an Address Information System (AIS).

An Office at the Centre must be entrusted with the responsibility of developing the AIS along with a dedicated network to facilitate the posting of data online. This Office, to be known as “National Office for Statistical Registers and Censuses (NOSRC)”, must be newly created under the Cabinet Secretariat and assigned the subject “Address Information System, Register-based statistical system, Dissemination of Small area statistics and Censuses” in the AOBR by way of amendment. The staff sanctioned for conducting a census in other Central Ministries / Departments at the Centre should be relocated to the NOSRC to put an end to the compartmentalization previously built-in on census taking.

AIS is the key to a register-based statistical system. All the Government offices, Instrumentalities of the Government, Taxation Authorities, Private institutions licensed or registered or partly funded by Government, and local authorities must maintain data (for which they are the custodians) online for each EB about their activities / services / products, in accordance with the AIS. Houses / Structures, Establishments, Households, Entrepreneurs, Persons residing in each household, vacant plots, and other types of non-residential plots, situated in each EB shall be assigned unique identifiers (such as Aadhar Number for persons), which should not vary even when some of them, say, Entrepreneurs and Persons migrate to another location. In cases of migration, only EB code shall change and it should be recorded along with details of migration. Information already available in a previous census / survey or any administrative source has to be organized where feasible in accordance with the AIS and unique identifiers. The NOSRC at national level and a nodal Office at State level must be entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating the maintenance of required information online by all the local authorities EB-wise, and sharing of information online to the nodal and other offices and general public, as specified by the Centre from time to time.

If an AIS is notified on the above lines, every local authority authorised to conduct a census or a survey or issue a license or register a unit etc., will be able to assign EB code and combine data having a common EB code in an appropriate way. Even jurisdictions, such as police station areas, postal circles, election booth areas, constituencies, wards / hamlets, taluks / mandals, districts etc., must be defined as comprising a specific set of EBs with relevant codes. Educated persons and illiterate persons with the aid of knowledgeable persons may be allowed to update their own information online from time to time. If dynamic and continuous online updating of personal details is provided for and if it is made mandatory, it can be used as a prerequisite for all kinds of licensing, opening bank accounts, updating KYC details, and similar avenues a citizen needs. This portion of the database in the online register can be used to provide small area statistics, as and when required, without waiting for a duly notified comprehensive census. It can also be used for issuing certificates to the concerned households for different purposes, such as birth certificate, death certificate, resident certificate, etc.

The local authorities must be trained in matching and linking data records using unique identifiers and integrating the data. The NOSRC and the State level nodal Offices shall engage themselves in matching electronic records using geo-codes and other unique identifiers, linking them and integrating data to generate and disseminate reports online for the benefit of users. Additional human resources need not be provided to local authorities except training in the AIS and data preparation / sharing. Thus, data matching, linking and integration will pave way for establishing a registers-based statistical system using AIS by combining data from various administrative sources, surveys and censuses, and after performing quality checks on the data, disseminating statistics at EB and higher levels.

Data which is not confidential in Indian conditions should not be treated as such, just for the sake of following western culture. For example, if a location or a house is predominantly occupied by persons of a particular caste or religion or ethnic group, that fact is openly known in its neighbourhood in India and hence, the relevant information need not per se be kept confidential in a census or a survey. Similarly, the family particulars, no. of children and occupation in a household is openly known in most of the cases. In case part of the data is not confidential, unit level data may also be disseminated on demand at specified field offices / service centres located across the country. In case, part of the data is confidential, unit level data after removing / suppressing personal information may be disseminated at the same set of offices. Alternatively, without disseminating unit level data, the required reports may be generated and disseminated on demand. Without prejudice to this plan of dissemination, a pre-specified set of reports have to be disseminated online, providing free access through the dedicated network. 

A local authority shall be designated to disseminate data online as per pre-specified plan for each EB every month. In case of a notified census, statistics of census as per pre-specified plan for each EB shall be disseminated online within a week after completion of data collection in that EB. This decentralised system of dissemination along with dynamic updating will enhance public trust in census data and ensure public participation in conducting a census and subsequent inter-censual data collection processes.

A legislation needs to be enacted to provide for earmarking EBs, assigning unique codes as per AIS described above, establishing a dedicated network, laying down a duty to local authorities and others mentioned above to post data online and update it from time to time, asking persons to update their data online as and when needed, sharing of data to the nodal offices / users duly keeping requisite confidentiality, and disseminating reports and unit level data as per pre-specified plan.

The legislation may also provide for issuing Death Certificates and Birth Certificates by local authorities on the basis of online database, subject to its updating and appropriate verification. In such a case, the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 may be annulled and the staff sanctioned in ORGI for that purpose may also be relocated in the NOSRC. At State level, similar steps need to be taken to establish nodal offices. Further, augmentation of human and other resources may be done as per requirements.

The new legislation on census has to provide for organizing registers-based statistical system on the lines stated above and for comprehensive census taking on any subject, as and when required, taking public support and providing for online data collection through Mobile Apps etc. In view of this, the Census Act, 1948 may not be required anymore and hence, it may also be annulled.

The reforms, legislative, statutory and institutional as stated above, require firm commitment from the executive and politicians to improve the statistical system. Hon’ble Finance Minister’s Budget Speech (July 2024) and the BJP Manifesto, namely, Bharatiya Janata Party Modi ki Guarantee 2024, provide hopes in this direction. They are extracted below for ready reference:

Bibliography: