Redefining We The People — That’s The Task Of A New Demography Committee, Pg13

Key Highlights:

• A new Demography Committee was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2025 and formally constituted on May 26, 2026.
• The committee is tasked with conducting a religion-wise comparative study of birth registration, school enrolment, vehicle registrations, property transactions, ration cards, and voter registration for the past 15 years.
• Its stated purpose is to identify "imbalances arising out of illegal immigration" and conduct a "ghuspaithiya-impact study."
• Chaired by retired Justice Prabhakar Naolekar, the committee notably lacks any demographers among its members.
• The committee's work timeline aligns with the delayed publication of the Census data, expected in December 2027.

Detailed Insights:

• The field of demography in India has a rich history, with distinguished institutions like the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and renowned demographers contributing significantly.
• The IIPS, established in 1956, functions as a regional center for population studies for the Asia-Pacific region and is the nodal agency for the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
• The composition of the new committee includes members from diverse backgrounds such as an economist from the PM's Economic Advisory Council (EAC-PM), a former R&AW officer, and a former bureaucrat, alongside ex-officio members like the Registrar General of India (RGI).
• The committee's mandate overlaps with existing governmental data collection initiatives, including the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls (SIR), the ongoing Census, and discussions around reviving the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
• The Census of India, traditionally a decennial exercise, was postponed from 2021 to 2026-27, a deviation from established practice and UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses.
• The upcoming Census will introduce new questions, such as the name of the spouse, which, combined with the committee's data collection and the SIR, could create a comprehensive database on alleged infiltrators and interfaith couples.
• The article suggests the committee's ultimate objective may be to pinpoint "orchestrated migration" and "abnormal settlements" to facilitate legislative and administrative measures for managing and deporting infiltrators.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Demography: The statistical study of human populations, focusing on their size, structure, distribution, and changes over time due to birth, death, migration, and aging.
• International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS): A deemed university under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, dedicated to training and research in population studies.
• National Family Health Survey (NFHS): A large-scale, multi-round survey conducted by the IIPS to provide data on health, family welfare, and emerging health issues across India.
• Census of India: A decennial enumeration of the entire population of India, conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, collecting demographic, social, and economic data.
• National Register of Citizens (NRC): A register containing names of all legal Indian citizens, mandated by the Citizenship Act, 1955, to identify and deport illegal immigrants.