Census 2027 makes first shift in how India records beggars, vagrants

The move means Census 2027 will not provide a separate count of beggars and vagrants, unlike previous exercises that recorded the group under non-economic activity

  India’s upcoming Census will make a significant change to how it records people who depend on begging, with the ‘beggars and vagrants’ category being removed from the Census 2027 questionnaire. For the first time, the exercise will not generate a separate official count of people identified under this category.

 

The change follows concerns over the reliability of earlier Census figures, as relatively few people identified themselves as beggars or vagrants. According to The Times of India, officials said social stigma may have discouraged respondents from declaring begging as their activity.

 

The 2011 Census recorded 413,670 people under the ‘beggars and vagrants etc.’ category, including 221,673 men and 191,997 women. In specific non-worker breakdowns, this count dropped to approximately 3,80,000 individuals. However, the government acknowledged that these figures likely undercount the true population.

 

 

What happens to the category in Census 2027?

 

Previously, ‘beggars and vagrants etc’ appeared under non-economic activity, alongside students, people engaged in household duties, dependants, pensioners, rentiers and others.

 

In Census 2027, the category will instead be included under ‘others’. This means the Census will no longer publish separate data showing the number of beggars and vagrants by age, religion, state or Union territory, educational status and other demographic characteristics.

 

Other changes in Census 2027

 

The removal of the category comes alongside other changes to the Census questionnaire.

 

‘Natural calamities’ has been added as a reason for migration, joining reasons such as work, business, education, marriage and moving with a household.

 

The questionnaire will also ask for details about a person’s parents, including their date and place of birth, as well as their religion. This information will be sought even if the parents do not live in the same household or are no longer alive.