2021 Census of India

National Population Register will be linked to this census with preparations beginning from April 2020.[21][22] NPR will be conducted along with the first phase of Census between April and September 2020.[23][24] On 24 December 2019, the Central Government approved ₹39.41 billion (equivalent to ₹49 billion or US$610 million in 2023) for updating the NPR across India.[25]

The 15th Indian Census taken in 2011, attempted to estimate the population based on Socio-Economic and Caste Status for the first time since 1931. However, as the enumeration was based on recording the respondents' declaration, it led to creation of hundreds of thousands of caste/subcaste categories. For the 16th Indian census, the government is instead considering enumeration based on a list of educationally or socially disadvantaged castes (known as Other Backward Class) reported by each state.[26] However, in February 2020, the Indian government rejected the demand for OBC data as part of the 2021 census.[27][28]

In September 2018, the then Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, announced that the 2021 census will have Other Backward Class (OBC) data, for the first time since the 1931 census.[29] Despite this announcement, the questionnaire presented in July 2019 did not have a specific OBC category.[30] Several state legislative assemblies passed resolutions for collecting OBC data including the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly[31] Odisha Legislative Assembly[32] and Bihar Legislative Assembly,[33] while the government of Uttar Pradesh, rejected the opposition's demand to pass such a resolution.[34] On 29 February 2020, central government refused to conduct caste census despite demands from states.[35] Despite Centre's rejection, Maharashtra legislators were adamant for caste based census at least in the state.[36] Protest march in support of OBC census was carried out in Jammu and Kashmir.[37] Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale also demanded carrying of census counting every single caste in India.[38]

The 2021 census is the first census to be ever postponed in India since its beginning in 1872. Even during the second World War, the Census of India was held in 1941 as scheduled, even if the tabulations of the results of the 1941 Census were incomplete compared to the detailed reports published after the 1931 Census. Before the census, according to the rules, the boundaries of administrative units are to be frozen before conducting a census, this was initially supposed to have happened on 31 December 2019, with the states having to update these changes to the Registrar General of India by 31 January 2020. The house listing phase or the first phase of the census along with the NPR was to be conducted between April 1 2020 and September 30 2020.[39] However following the Covid-19 pandemic the Union government postponed the census house listing phase of the census exercise.[40] Census became entirely postponed to 2022 owing to the pandemic.[41] However the census was never conducted in 2022 either as it was repeatedly delayed, with the deadline to freeze administrative boundaries being extended to 31 December 2020, then to 31 March 2021, then being further extended to 30 June, then to 31 December of the same year until it was extended to 30 June 2022, after which it was extended to 31 December 2022, and then another extension was granted till 30 June 2023,[12] the exercise was then given a further extension to 1 January 2024.[13] The official rationale for all the eight extensions has been the Covid-19 pandemic, however this has been criticized as during 2021-22, twelve countries in Asia were able to conduct their decennial census including the neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal.[42]

The delays have also been attributed by analysts to the linking of the census with the NPR exercise which is seen as the first step towards the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC), the decision to update the NPR and discussions on imposing a nationwide NRC were some of the key issues taken up by the CAA-NRC protests. The demands for a caste census have also been attributed as one of the reasons behind the continuous delays.[43]

The continuous postponement of the census has led to many commentators and newspaper editorials asking for it to conducted without any further delays as the data from census is the only way to gain granular data on the country, as sample surveys can only provide state or countrywide data rather than street or village or block level data, with some of these surveys also relying on census data. The lack of census data is said to be a major handicap for policy-makers as without it they would've to rely on outdated census data for such local level planning. Many key welfare interventions in India such as the Public Distribution System and the NFSA are reliant on census data, and having outdated data could lead to the exclusion of many potential beneficiaries from them. Without data from the census it is also difficult to validate the outcomes of government interventions using key metrics such as literacy, housing, fertility, urbanization, etc.[44][45][46][43][47] The lack of updated census data also affects the quantum of reservation for SC/ST segments of the population and the delimitation of constituencies for elections.[48]

• Bihar caste-based survey 2023