Census helps government turn population into asset in Ahmedabad

On ‘World Population Day’, Manish Bharadwaj, IAS, director of census operations, Gujarat shares his views on how the population of any country can be turned into an asset and how census can play a vital role in the country’s development. He also says that people should give correct information to enumerators without any fear of the data being passed on to other agencies. With caste-based census set to start soon, his views should clear doubts that readers may have about the confidentiality of the information they provide to the enumerators.


India concluded its 15th Census early this year and through this massive exercise, we came to know that the population of our country has crossed 1.21 billion-mark. The population of Gujarat has also increased to 60 million.

To spread awareness about the problems created by unbridled population growth, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1989 declared July 11 as the World Population Day. It is on July 11, 1989, that the global population is believed to have crossed the five billion-mark; hence the day is also known as the Five Billion Day. Now, in 2011, the global population is believed to have crossed the 7 billion-mark.

Almost every country in the world conducts censuses but there are certain sections in our society which argue that the census is a futile exercise. To ensure the overall development of a population as large as ours, a decennial headcount is indispensable.

To achieve planned development, it is important for the government to know the number of people in the country and, more importantly, to know their standard of living, lifestyle, habits and their other qualities.

Besides being a headcount exercise, the census in our country is also like a socio-economic survey. It provides the authorities with authentic data about the standard of life of citizens and gives insights for formulation of policies for further development of the people. It gives cues as to which region of the country is lagging behind in what respects, where infrastructure is needed and where special programmes are required. It also helps administrators decide which policies to pursue and which to discontinue, and how much finance will be needed for a certain policy intervention etc.

The Indian Census is considered to be the biggest administrative exercise in the world. In Census 2011, 2.7 million enumerators and supervisors were engaged in collecting information about every person living in India. It was Census 2001 that flashed a red light on the decline in number of women in the country and, as a corrective measure, we could launch the Beti Bachao campaign. Similarly, the national literacy mission too has its roots in earlier census exercises.

The importance of headcounts was recognised centuries back. References to censuses are found in Kautilya’s book. Ain-e-Akabari, a Mughal era book, also records a census as having been conducted in India between 1567 and 1572. And since 1881, we have conducted this decennial exercise without any interruption.

Given the importance of the exercise, it is the duty of every citizen to provide full and correct information to census officials. Once a citizen fills in the forms of the census with the required information, that information becomes confidential. It is not shared with any other agency - government or otherwise.

Laws mandate that such information cannot be disclosed even to agencies like the income tax department. Nor is it admissible as evidence in a court of law. Furthermore, the government cannot divulge such data even under the Right to Information Act.

It is important that we turn our huge population into an asset and do not perceive it as a liability. Timely censuses and people’s cooperation in these exercises can go a long way toward realising this goal.