SAMVAAD - Lecture 12

(An International Lecture Series hosted by SCTIMST)

“Census of India. Processes and Outcomes”

Lecture by Shri A N Rajeev

Deputy Registrar General, 
Census & Tabulation

Date: 26 August 2025

Time: 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm

Venue: Online via YouTube

Meeting Link: https://youtube.com/live/UpxyD9PwDKg?feature=share

‘The Census of India: Processes and Outcomes’

India has a history of having conducted population censuses for more than 140 years, with the first non-synchronous one held in 1872. The Census of independent India is conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India and the activity is governed by the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990 and the various amendments made thereon. The present Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India is Shri Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, IAS.

India has been conducting these decadal census operations un-interrupted until 2021 when the pandemic affected the operations and compelled the Census, 2021 to be postponed. Now the Government of India has decided to conduct the next Census in 2027 which will be India’s first digital census. The census operation is carried out in two phases, with a first phase consisting of enumeration of houses and house-listing process which will commence in April 2026 followed by a second phase in Feb 2027 where individuals will be enumerated with the help of a web portal and mobile applications for data collection. It will also be the first time since 1931 when caste will be enumerated during Census. The reference period for 2027 census has already been notified and it will be 0.00 hours of March 1^st 2027 for all Indian states except the snowbound areas of the Union territory of Ladakh, Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, for those areas the reference date will be the 1^st day of October 2026.

The Indian Censuses provide crucial inputs for planning for the people of India and the governance. The conduct of the census using the latest technology with web portals and mobile applications will facilitate the release of the population counts early with a minimal lag of time. This is a much-awaited head count as most program planning and management depends on the count of the population.

The primary data from Census will be published at all levels down to the villages and wards of town. The demographic, socio - economic, linguistic, housing and other sets of data are also published at the appropriate levels for the use of planners, researchers and others. The frame of census is used by all major sample surveys for their conduct and also the parametric values of the population census are used for testing sufficiency of samples. The census data is also used for studying disability, mortality/morbidity and also used for construction of life tables and population projections. The age- sex structure of the population revealed from the census indicates the progress made in population policies and also the future prospects of the dynamics of population.

The count of population is also used for formation of constituencies for assemblies and parliament, implementation of reservation policies, urban planning and slum clearance, formulation of family health policies, safe drinking water & sanitation policy, housing policy for the homeless, planning for rural employment etc.

Understanding the basics of Indian Census will be quite useful for any Indian Citizen as it touches every individual in more than one way. 

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About the Speaker Shri AN Rajeev, Deputy Registrar General (Census & Tabulation),

Directorate of Census Operations, Maharashtra, Mumbai

Shri AN Rajeev is currently the Deputy Registrar General (Census & Tabulation), Directorate of Census Operations, Maharashtra, Mumbai. He is one of the senior Deputy Registrar Generals of the office of the Registrar General and Census commissioner of India when India is conducting its 16^th Population Census. He has been instrumental in conducting the Census, 2011 in the state of Kerala and in the preparation of National Population Register in that state. He has also contributed to the Sample Registration systems and Civil Registration Systems of Kerala, West Bengal and Maharashtra. He is at present engaged among other things in the preparations for Census, 2027.

His academic career is distinguished and eminently built for undertaking Census Operations across a geographically diverse country like India. He completed his Masters in Statistics from the University of Calicut and Masters in Business Administration from the University of Pondicherry. Shri Rajeev started his career as a researcher at the Population Research Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.  He was the Media Researcher for the public sector broadcaster, ‘All India Radio and Doordarshan’ for about 14 years (1993-2007). Subsequently, he has been with the Indian Census for the past 18 years, (2007 to date), in various capacities as Assistant Director of Census Operations, Joint Director and now as, Deputy Registrar General (Census and Tabulations).

He has worked in 5 states and Union Territories during the course of his service and is well versed with the issues involved, problems and complications related to the conduct of the Census. His contribution to the conduct of Census-2011 in the State of Kerala is noteworthy and this effort fetched him the President’s Census Silver Medal.

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