New Delhi: The budget allocation for the national census and other surveys in FY25-26 is 57% lower than the revised estimate of Rs 1,341 earmarked for them in FY 24-25.
The Union government has set aside Rs 574 crore for the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner this year – a mere 6.5% of the projected cost of conducting the census, businessline reported. A look at the budget documents reveals that allocations to the line item has been consistently declining.
According to the report, In FY22, Rs 505 crore were spent against the estimated amount of Rs 3,768 crore. In FY24, Rs 1,564 crore was estimated, but spending was Rs 572 crore.
On the contrary, when the decadal census was conducted in 2011, the actual spending was much higher than the initial allocation. In FY10-11 Rs 1,999 crore were estimated while Rs 2,726 crore were spent. In FY11-12, Rs 2,638 crore were spent against the estimate of Rs 4,123 crore.
According to a 2019 press release by the government, the cabinet had approved the cost for conducting Census 2021 at Rs 8,754.23 crore.
“The current outlay is not large enough to indicate that a census is planned for this financial year. The amount allocated this year may be what is required for the day-to-day running expenses of the Registrar General of India,” Shubho Roy, a public finance researcher, told the paper.
The population census was initially delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the Modi government has faced years of criticism for dragging its feet on the matter. This is the first time in its 150-year history that the decennial census has been delayed.
The delay in conducting the census has drawn criticism from economists, both within and outside the government, due to its impact on the accuracy of other statistical surveys.
These include crucial data sets like economic indicators, inflation rates, and employment figures. Currently, many of these surveys and the government programmes that rely on them are based on data from the last population census conducted in 2011.
The large-scale exclusion of people under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) has also drawn concern. Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri of the Satark Nagrik Sangathan and the Right to Food Campaign have written in The Wire that had the 2021 census been published and the NFSA coverage revised accordingly, an estimated 10 crore people would have been added to the food security net.
The lack of updated census data has delayed at least 15 other vital data sets related to health, demography and economy, in addition to affecting the quality of surveys by the National Sample Survey Office.
