In addition to caste details, the Census will, for the first time, collect personal information such as the total number of bank accounts held by individuals, along with their mobile number, Aadhaar number, voter ID number, passport number and driving licence status, according to the 40 questions notified by the Registrar General of India on Friday.
The questionnaires from previous Censuses, from 1872 to 2011, available on the Census Department's website, do not include questions seeking details of such documents held by respondents.
Traditionally, the Census collected information on whether the respondent belongs to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe category. However, the upcoming decadal exercise will collect caste information for all respondents for the first time since Independence.
Respondents must answer questions to the best of "their knowledge or belief", which enumerators will record digitally or on paper (in unavoidable circumstances).
In response to a written question from TMC MP Shatrughan Prasad Sinha seeking to know whether disclosing caste for the census would be optional, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai stated in December that under sub-section (2) of section 8 of the Census Act, 1948, the respondent is required to answer questions to the best of their knowledge or belief.
The Government of India has not enumerated caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in the Census since Independence, he said in response to another question. The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census on April 30 last year.
Respondents must provide personal details, marital status, age at marriage, spouse's name, nationality as declared, parents' particulars, disability status, mother tongue and other languages known, literacy and digital literacy status, among others.
During the world's biggest headcount, a fully digital endeavour, respondents will answer questions on "attendance status in educational institutions" and the highest educational level attained, among others.
"Census is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948, and Census Rules, 1990, and amendments made thereunder. Individual data collected in the Census is kept confidential and only aggregated data at various administrative levels is published," Rai said in response to another question in March this year.
The latest circular issued by the Registrar General of India (RGI) clarified that any officer who intentionally asks "any offensive or improper question" during the Census 2027 will face punishment, including imprisonment up to three years upon conviction.
The population enumeration in Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will take place from September 1 to 30, according to a gazette notification issued earlier this month.
"For the conduct of the above Census, there will be an option for self-enumeration from August 17 to 31 just before the start of house-to-house population enumeration," it said.
In the rest of the country, the population enumeration (PE) will begin next year.
The decennial exercise, scheduled for 2021, was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Union Cabinet has approved Rs 11,718 crore for conducting the Census.
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