Context:

A report titled, “The Treatise on Indian Censuses Since 1981”, was released by Home Minister Amit Shah on May 22.

Six Religion Codes:

• Census officials had designed detailed codes for religion on the basis of data collected during Census 2011. 
• However, they were dropped and only six religion codes (Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain) were retained in the final schedule.
  • Nature- worshiping Adivasis in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have been campaigning to include their Sarna faith as a separate religion, while Karnataka’s Lingayats have been making a similar demand.
  • Though respondents can write the name of any other religion, no separate code will be provided.

What’s new?

• The digital Census respondents would have the comfort to fill it at their own home.
• Questions included: 
  • On the mode of travel to the place of work, respondents will have to answer it in hours and minutes, and whether they use metro rail. 
  • On types and causes of disabilities; expanded to include “acid attack, intellectual disability, chronic neurological disease and blood disorder”.
  • Also record details whether a person lives in a rented house, owns a house somewhere else or does not own any residential property. 
  • On availability of drinking water; “near the premises” means “within 100 meters in urban areas” and “within 500 meters in rural areas”.

Directory to reduce bias:

• For the first time, a code directory — containing possible responses and their matching codes for questions involving descriptive and non-numeric entries — has been prepared for the use of enumerators during the second phase of Census 2021. 
• It has codes in respect of Relationship to Head, Mother Tongue and Other Languages Known, Occupation, Nature of Industry, Trade or Service, Birth Place/Place of last residence and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) etc.
• Data processing of these descriptive responses required human intervention to codify into required data format as per the tabulation plan.
• It also involved risk to data bias and errors because of diverse judgment of enumerators and the persons codifying the response as well.

Census:

• The process of collecting, compiling, analyzing and disseminating demographic, social, cultural and economic data relating to all persons in the country, at a particular time in a ten year interval.

Historical Background:

• The earliest literature ‘Rig Veda’: Reveals about some kind of population count.
• Kautilya’s Arthasastra: Census taking as a measure of State policy for purpose of taxation.
• King Akbar: The administrative report ‘Ain-e-Akbari’ included comprehensive data pertaining to population, industry, wealth and many other characteristics
• The first Census was conducted in India in 1872 (Governor-General Lord Mayo). 
• The first complete synchronous Census was conducted in 1881.

Census Act, 1948:

• Provided for the permanent scheme of conducting population Census with duties and responsibilities of Census Officers.
• The Act makes it obligatory on the part of every citizen to answer the Census question truthfully and also penalises for giving false information.
• It makes provisions for the maintenance of secrecy of the information collected at the Census of each individual.
• Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner under Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for conducting the decennial Census.

News Source: The Hindu