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Govt cuts Census budget allocation by half, RGI to seek additional funds

The Union Home Ministry has halved the Census and Statistics budget for 2024-25, with provisions for the Registrar General of India to request additional funds for the delayed census

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Rimjhim Singh New Delhi
2 min read Last Updated : Jan 13 2025 | 12:24 PM IST
Ahead of the upcoming Union budget, the Union Home Ministry has reduced the allocated expenditure for the Census Survey and Statistics to roughly half of what was proposed in the Budget Estimates for 2024-25. However, a provision has been made allowing the Registrar General of India (RGI) to access additional funds through a special process, according to a report by The Economic Times. 
The RGI is expected to conduct the long-delayed census and update the National Population Register this year, with funding likely to be included in the upcoming Budget, the news report cited officials as saying. This will also alter the structure of future census cycles. In the Revised Estimates (RE) for the financial year 2024-25, the Indian government allocated Rs 52 lakh for the Census Survey and Statistics. This amount is approximately half of the Rs 1.25 crore allocated in the Budget Estimates for the same year.
 
The Registrar General of India (RGI) is expected to proceed with the delayed census and update the National Population Register (NPR) this year, the news report said.
 
The official order further states, “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 Budget Estimates (BE) provision, the expenditure may be kept within the RE outlay so fixed and where RE provision has been increased, it does not per se authorise expenditure beyond BE provision.”
 
The 2019 enumeration process for Census 2020 was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2024 General elections. Regarding the caste census, the government had previously informed Parliament that no caste-wise data would be collected in Census 2021, except for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
 
“The Government of India has not enumerated caste-wise populations other than SCs and STs in Census since Independence,” the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had mentioned in response to a parliamentary query.  “We are also aware that several state assemblies have passed resolutions for caste-based census,” another official said, as quoted by the news report, In 2018, the Modi administration announced that Census 2021 would include data on OBCs for the first time.

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Topics :Budget 2025BudgetUnion Budgetcensuscaste census pilot projectsBS Web Reports

First Published: Jan 13 2025 | 12:24 PM IST

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