Centre Amends Census Rules to Allow Private School Teachers for 2027 Census; Move Aims to Saffronise Census

New Delhi: The Centre has decided to appoint private school teachers for the 2027 national census. Employees of various institutions, societies and trusts will also be eligible for census duty. The decision follows amendments to the Census Rules, 1990. This is an example of the BJP-RSS-led Centre's questionable move to appoint its own people for census duties.

Until now, government school teachers, Revenue Department officials and other state government employees have been assigned census duties, which involve visiting households and collecting information. Under the new amendments, teachers from aided and unaided private educational institutions can also be appointed. State governments and Union Territory administrations will also be authorised to deploy employees of public sector undertakings, banks, companies, trusts and societies as required.

Private school associations in Haryana had approached the court against the appointment of private school teachers for census work. Private teachers and educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra had also moved the courts. The Centre amended the rules amid these legal challenges.

The latest move comes after the Centre faced controversy over the large-scale deletion of voters' names across the country through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). With private school teachers and employees of other institutions now eligible for census duty, the BJP-RSS can more easily appoint individuals sympathetic to its ideology.

It also raises concerns that information and population data could reach Sangh Parivar leaders even before the official figures are released. This could further assist the Sangh Parivar, which has been accused of facilitating voter deletions in several places through the SIR process. Appointing private individuals for census work is a deliberate move intended to serve this purpose.

The appointment of private individuals for census duties has also raised concerns about the privacy of people's information.

Census to Begin on December 1 in Four States

The second phase of the census will be conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Punjab from December 1 to January 4, 2027. The exercise will take place in other parts of the country in February 2027.

This will be India's eighth census since Independence. The first phase will involve collecting information on houses and housing facilities. The second phase will cover population enumeration and caste data collection.

The census, which was scheduled to take place in 2021, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.