The Union Budget 2025 is poised to shape the Census and National Population Register (NPR) processes, with the Union home ministry halving the allocated expenditure for Census Survey and Statistics. Despite this reduction, a special provision enables the Registrar General of India (RGI) to access additional funds if necessary.
Officials indicate that the much-delayed Census and NPR update will likely be conducted this year, with allocations expected in the upcoming budget. Revised Estimates (RE) peg the census expenditure at ₹0.52209 crore for 2024-25, a sharp drop from the Budget Estimates (BE) of ₹1.25013 crore.
An official order clarified, “It may be ensured that the total expenditure under each head of account during the current financial year does not exceed the outlay indicated in the Revised Estimates 2024-25." It added, "Where the provision in RE has been reduced below the BE provision, the expenditure may be kept within the RE outlay so fixed."
The Census, delayed since 2019 due to COVID-19 and the 2024 general elections, is set to reshape future cycles. On caste-based enumeration, the government reiterated, “The Government of India has not enumerated caste-wise populations other than SCs and STs in Census since Independence.” Despite resolutions passed by several state assemblies for a caste-based census, the Modi government announced in 2018 that Census 2021 would collect data on Other Backward Classes (OBC) for the first time.
This development underscores a strategic shift in India’s demographic data collection framework.
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