The Census of India is a statutory concept and a decennial process of collecting, compiling, analyzing, and disseminating demographic, economic, and social data for all persons in the country. It is governed by the Census Act, 1948, which was piloted by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The first non-synchronous census was conducted in 1872 under Lord Mayo, and the first synchronous census, which established the ten-year cycle, took place in 1881. The first census of independent India under the new Act was in 1951.
The legal framework for the census is established by the Census Act, 1948, which empowers the Central Government to conduct the exercise. The process is managed by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, which operates under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The operation is carried out in two phases: the Houselisting and Housing Census, followed by the Population Enumeration. A key provision is that citizens are legally bound to provide accurate information (Section 8(2)), and the Act guarantees the strict confidentiality of individual data, which is not accessible even to courts of law.
The population census is a Union subject listed at serial number 69 of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, under Article 246. The data is vital for administration, planning, and the demarcation of constituencies and allocation of representation to Parliament and State legislative assemblies. The 2021 Census was postponed and is now scheduled for 2027. This upcoming census will be the first fully digital census, utilizing a mobile app and offering a provision for self-enumeration. Crucially, it will include caste enumeration for all individuals for the first time since 1931.