Private teachers can be roped in for Census as Centre amends rules

The amended rules also permit clerical staff and other suitable persons appointed by state and Union territory administrations to conduct enumeration duties.

The Centre on Friday notified the Census (Amendment) Rules 1990 allowing states and Union territories to include teachers from aided and unaided private bodies as enumerators during the Census.

The Census will collect demographic, socio-cultural and economic data, along with information on migration and fertility from households. (David Talukdar/Representational image)

The notification issued by Registrar General of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, and Census commissioner said that clerical staff and any other person appointed by state and Centre could also be roped in as enumerators.

Before Friday’s notification, according to The Census Rules, 1990, the officials who could be roped in as enumerators were not explicitly specified, and were noted as — teachers, clerks or any official or any other person.

The changes came in the backdrop of petitions filed in courts, such as Punjab and Haryana High Court, challenging the requisition and deployment of teaching staff from private unaided schools for Census duty.

According to Friday’s notification, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 18 of the Census Act, 1948 (37 of 1948), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Census Rules, 1990, namely:—

“(i) Teachers of any educational institution of the Government, local authority, aided or unaided private bodies, societies or trusts.

(ii) Clerks or any official of the Central Government, State Government, local authority or establishment (including public sector undertakings, statutory bodies, banks, companies, institutions, societies and trusts).

(iii) Any person, as the State Government or the Union territory Administration may consider suitable, to perform the duties as an Enumerator.”

Census Schedule Across Regions

Population enumeration in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and areas other than the snow-bound regions of Uttarakhand will take place from December 1 to January 4, 2027, because of the assembly elections scheduled there for next year.The Centre has deferred the house-listing operations for Census 2027 for Manipur, a notification issued by the Registrar General of India said last month.

The exercise in Ladakh and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand took place from September 1 to 30.

For the rest of the country, the exercise is likely to begin next February, during which data on various demographic, socio-cultural and economic parameters, along with migration and fertility characteristics of individuals from each household, will be collected.