Census may be held in 2026 to match delimitation schedule, says Union Minister Kishan Reddy  

Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy addresses a meeting in Hyderabad. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Union Minister for Coals and Mines G. Kishan Reddy said on Thursday (May 1, 2025) that the Census Act, 1948, will have be amended to enable the enumeration of caste in the next Census exercise.

In an interview with The Hindu, the Minister said the Census is expected to be conducted in 2026 to align with the schedule of delimitation of the Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats, a constitutional requirement.

According to the 84th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2001, the redrawing of boundaries of the constituencies is to be carried out on the basis of population data of the first Census after 2026. The current seats are drawn on the basis of 1971 Census.

The Minister, when asked about the timing of the announcement, specially a week after the Pahalgam terror attack, said, “The population Census is about to happen next year but the preparation has to begin now, groundwork has to be done. Forms have to be finalised, enumerators are to be trained and the Act has to be amended. Keeping all that in mind, this decision was taken. The Census Act does not have the provision of caste, Act will have to be change.”

Discussions to be held

Mr. Reddy, who is a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) that took the decision on Wednesday, said the procedure for recording castes will be finalised after detailed discussions with caste organisations, public representatives and public intellectuals among others.

“The names of caste provided by people will also have to be taken into account. … There will be detailed guidelines. Yesterday a fundamental decision was taken that Census should enumerate caste,” the Minister said. He added that the Bill is likely to be tabled during the monsoon session of Parliament.

He said the caste details of Muslim community will also be recorded in the Census.

Responding to a question on why the Census, supposed to be conducted in 2021, was withheld all these years, Mr. Reddy said, “Constituencies are to be re-arranged in the coming days. It is a constitutional requirement as well demand by the society. Another Census would have had to be done after 2026, so to accommodate the delimitation schedule, it was decided to conduct it later.”

Castes, other than Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, have never been enumerated in Independent India.

Census, usually conducted every 10 years, was last held in the country in 2011. The whole exercise generally spanning 11 months, is conducted in two phases – House Listing and Housing Schedule, and Population Enumeration. It begins on April 1 and concludes on February 28.

This is not the first time that the BJP government, after it came to power in 2014, has announced plans for a caste count.

On August 31, 2018, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that OBC data will be collected for the first time during the next Census exercise. In its press statement titled “Union Home Minister reviews preparation for Census 2021” said “it is also envisaged to collect data on OBCs for the first time.”

There was no further action on the issue since then. When The Hindu filed an application under Right To Information (RTI) Act, the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) said that deliberations and file noting regarding the decision were not available with its office.