'Another institution being destroyed’: Congress alleges RSS-BJP agenda behind Census 2027 changes

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP-led Centre of pursuing a political agenda through its expansion of the pool of eligible enumerators for Census 2027. The party cited alleged links to an RSS training camp and a panel on demographic changes.Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the developments raise concerns over the census process.The allegations came after the Centre amended the Census Rules, 1990, on Friday, allowing states and Union territories to appoint teachers from aided and unaided private institutions, among others, as census officers."The Modi govt has now expanded the list of eligible enumerators for Census 2027. There is much mischief behind it," Ramesh said in a post on X, alleging that the move could compromise the credibility of the decennial exercise.The Congress leader linked the census notification to an RSS training camp held in Belgaum from July 10 to 12, 2026, which he claimed focused on Census 2027. He also flagged the high-level committee on demographic changes, constituted by the Union home ministry on May 26, 2026, which invited public inputs, including from Indian and foreign organisations, on October 14.“The only thing high level of this committee is the affiliation of its members to the RSS ecosystem. So we know where these inputs will come from,” Ramesh alleged.Calling the expansion a “Rozgar Guarantee Yojana for thousands of RSS/BJP workers”, he claimed it could further undermine the census process.“This will most certainly further contaminate an already subverted Census. Another institution is being destroyed. Like SIR, the Census will also be dangerously doctored,” he said.Also Read| Centre expands Census enumerator pool to include private school teachers, clerksThe notification issued by Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan specifically includes teachers from government, local authority, aided and unaided private institutions, societies and trusts.The amendment comes amid legal challenges to the deployment of private-school staff for census duties. The Punjab and Haryana high court and the Allahabad high court have granted interim relief in cases concerning the requisitioning of teachers from private institutions.Separately, the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) has called for accessible and inclusive enumeration in Census 2027, urging clear information on the counting process, accessible self-enumeration facilities and sensitisation of census officials.“The Census 2027 will be the first decennial census since the enactment of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, which recognises 21 types of disabilities,” the organisation said, according to news agency PTI.The 2027 Census, the eighth since Independence, will be conducted in two phases: house-listing and housing census, followed by population enumeration. Originally scheduled for 2021, the decennial exercise was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the Union Cabinet approving Rs 11,718 crore for what is expected to be the country’s largest-ever headcount exercise.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.