Pros and cons of self-enumeration

It's a much delayed Census, and changes are afoot.

- Neelanjan Sircar

On Monday, the government notified the 2027 Indian Census, which will be the first census exercise in India in 16 years. India has seen significant economic, political, and technological transformation in this time period.

There is also a lot riding politically on the Census.

It will likely be the basis for the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC), which can be used to determine citizenship in India, should the government decide to extend the National Population Registry to a NRC; the next round of delimitation (drawing constituency boundaries); and caste reservations.

This iteration of the Census will also include a "caste census"—enumerating Indians by caste for the first time since 1931, which will certainly impact the allotment of reservations for other backward classes (OBCs).

With so much riding on the Census, a curious little addition to the census procedure, with no details, was included in the notification. For the first time ever, India will allow "self-enumeration," which will allow citizens to fill out Census data without a visit from a census enumerator.

Let us take a closer look at the challenges and implications of self-enumeration.