Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Nov 2, 2024

The decadal population enumeration process for India dates back to colonial times and has been held in the post-independence period in regular cycles under the 1948 Census of India Act. The last census was due in 2021 but was postponed on grounds of health risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even though in the following years the Government allowed huge-scale countrywide elections. Population data collated by the census is essential for welfare programme planning in any country. Currently, the Government continues to use the outdated 2011 census data. India used to have an outstanding international reputation for maintaining high-quality statistical data needed for administration but many of the periodic surveys of labour, employment, health, and migration have been put on hold by the three-term Modi government that was first elected in 2014. Though no date has been announced, there is speculation that the Narendra Modi government is likely to conduct the next census in 2025. India’s ruling party, the rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party and its parent organisation the RSS repeatedly use concocted statistics as part of their propaganda machines deployed to create fears over — migrant influx from neighbouring countries and the supposed overwhelming rise of the population of certain minority communities in India. The population census process as we knew it was run by top-notch statisticians with impeccable secular credentials, and many respected statisticians have burnt their bridges with the Modi government. The parliamentary opposition parties in India and civil society must be vigilant to ensure that the next census happens soon in 2025, is credible and is not in any way manipulated by the ideological propensities of the ruling party.

November 2, 2024 —HK