Census to happen at right time; Article 370 will never be restored: Shah

The decadal census will be carried out at an appropriate time and it will be announced when it is decided, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday.

The house listing phase of the census and the exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR) were scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020 but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

"The census will be carried out at an appropriate time. We will make an announcement for it when it is decided," Shah said at a press conference here replying to a question on it.

The home minister is on a three-day visit to Chhattisgarh during which he discussed the Naxal problem with top civil and security officials of Maoists-hit states on Saturday.

The census operation continues to be on hold and the government has not yet announced the new schedule.

Several opposition parties have been demanding a caste census.

However, so far there has been no announcement by the government on this politically significant issue.

Officials said since general elections took place this year, the census exercise is unlikely to be carried out in 2024 due to time constraints.

Besides, this year's budget has allocated just Rs 1309.46 crore for census surveys and statistics (Rs 578.29 in 2023-24).

The entire census and the NPR exercise is likely to cost the government more than Rs 12,000 crore, officials said.

This exercise, whenever it happens, will be the first digital census giving citizens an opportunity to self-enumerate.

The NPR has been made compulsory for citizens who want to exercise the right to fill the census form on their own rather than through government enumerators.

For this, the census authority has designed a self-enumeration portal which is yet to be launched.

During self-enumeration, Aadhaar or mobile number will be mandatorily collected.

The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner had prepared 31 questions to be asked. Those questions include whether a family has a telephone, internet connection, mobile or smartphone, bicycle, scooter or motorcycle or moped, whether they own a car, jeep or a van.

The citizens will also be asked what is the cereal they consume in the household, main source of drinking water, main source of lighting, access to toilet, type of toilet, waste water outlet, availability of bathing facility, availability of kitchen and LPG/PNG connection, main fuel used for cooking, availability of radio, transistor, television.

The citizens will also be asked about the predominant material of the floor, wall and roof of the house, condition of the house, total number of persons normally residing in the household, whether head of the household is a woman, whether the head of the household belongs to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, number of dwelling rooms exclusively in possession of the household, number of married couple(s) living in the household among others.
 

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will never be restored.

Shah's comments came as Jammu and Kashmir's two principal regional parties -- the National Conference and the PDP -- promised in their election manifestoes for upcoming assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir that they would work to restore the controversial provision, scrapped on August 5, 2019.

"Article 370 has no place in Jammu and Kashmir now or ever. It will never be restored," Shah said at a press conference in the Chhattisgarh capital when asked about it.

The home minister was addressing a press conference here after attending a meeting of top civil and security officials of the Naxal-hit states.

Restoration of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir's statehood as well as implementation of the autonomy resolution passed by the erstwhile assembly in 2000 are among the National Conference's 12 guarantees announced in its manifesto for the upcoming polls.

"We strive to restore (Articles) 370-35A, and statehood as prior to August 5, 2019," the NC poll document said.

In June 2000, the National Conference government under Farooq Abdullah passed a resolution in the J-K Assembly seeking to restore the pre-1953 constitutional position in the state.

It was, however, rejected by the Union Cabinet headed by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Article 370 was abrogated by the Narendra Modi government on August 5, 2019, and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two UTs - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The PDP on Saturday released its manifesto for the Assembly elections, promising to pursue the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir to its "original status", and advocate for confidence-building measures (CBMs) and regional cooperation between India and Pakistan.

"The PDP is resolute in its pursuit of restoring the constitutional guarantees that were unjustly scrapped, and is committed to restoring Jammu and Kashmir to its original status, ensuring that the voices of its people are heard and their rights are safeguarded," it said.

The PDP manifesto said the "unconstitutional and illegal revocation" of Articles 370 and 35A in 2019 has "further complicated the Kashmir issue, deepening the alienation felt by the people of the region".

On Friday, Shah slammed the Congress for its alliance with the National Conference for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls, accusing the party of repeatedly risking the country's unity and security in its greed for power.

The Congress has once again "exposed its ulterior motives by allying with the Abdullah family's National Conference," Shah said.

Posing 10 questions for the Congress and Gandhi, Shah had asked, "Does the Congress support the National Conference's promise of a separate flag for Jammu and Kashmir?

"Do Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party support the JKNC's decision to restore Article 370 and 35A, and thereby pushing Jammu and Kashmir back into an era of unrest and terrorism?"

The full name of Farooq Abdullah-led party is Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC).