Census 2027 to cost ₹11,718 crore, no separate budget earmarked for NPR, Pg10

Key Highlights:

• The Union Cabinet approved ₹11,718.24 crore for conducting Census of India 2027.
• Unlike 2019, there is no separate budget earmarked for updating the National Population Register (NPR).
• The Census 2021 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Census 2027 will be the first digital census and will enumerate caste in independent India.

Detailed Insights:

• In 2019, the Union Cabinet approved ₹3,941.35 crore for updating the NPR and ₹8,754.23 crore for Census of India 2021.
• The NPR, first collected in 2010 and updated in 2015, already has a database of 119 crore residents.
• The government aims to provide data to Ministries in a clean, machine-readable, and actionable format through the Census-as-a-Service (CaaS) initiative.
• Approximately 18,600 technical personnel will be engaged for around 550 days at the local level for the census.
• Data will be collected using mobile applications, and a dedicated portal, the Census Management and Monitoring System, has been developed for real-time monitoring.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Census: A complete enumeration of a population, usually recording demographic data.
• National Population Register (NPR): A register containing details of persons usually resident in a country.
• National Register of Citizens (NRC): A register containing names of Indian citizens.