Census in India has been a basis for understanding the demographic structure of the country. The purpose of every ten-year-old census starting with the first comprehensive census in 1872 has been to understand the social fabric, which will be clear after seeing all the questions of 1872-2011. As the country has been changing for years, the way and scope is also changing the census.
Earlier questions related to caste were included
Initially, the census questionnaire was a basic tool whose purpose was to submit data on the necessary demographic aspects. However, with every successful census, methods and content were further clarified, which shows the needs of the government to make policies. Before independence, knowing identity like caste, tribe and race was an integral part of the census. However, after independence there was an important change.
Now due to the sensitive nature of caste figures, it was kept out of the main census questionnaire. It was part of the story of promoting unity in a diverse country. The calculation of the rest of the castes was left in independent India (after 1951) except Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Changed method changed after independence
In the year 1872, the British mentioned the caste/class as a question but later the class was removed from the questions. In 1961, the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes were added as a category of the same question, in the 1951 census it was mentioned as special groups.
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The technical technical of the census continued to change gradually, so that one census can improve the accuracy and quality of data compared to another census. We have taken out the questionnaire of census from 1872 to 2011, which is the most important factor of the census. This will be clear how the census has been developed keeping in mind the changing needs of the country.
There were 17 questions in 1872 census
For example, in the first comprehensive census in 1872, 17 questions like name, date of birth, gender, religion were asked, while in 1951, the number of questions in the first census of independent India was 14. However, 13 more questions were asked in the optional question of the 13th question. The number of questions in the 1991 census was 23 and in 2001, 23 questions were sought.
In the most recent census held in 2011, 29 questions were asked. Apart from general questions, questions related to mother tongue, information of other languages, migration, employment and migration were asked.
Now the central government has decided to conduct caste census on Wednesday, which has been welcomed by all the parties including the main opposition party Congress. However, when this census will take place and what will be its form, no accurate information has come out. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also asked the government many questions about this.