Representative image of census.
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New Delhi: The union government started preparations for conducting the much-delayed Census but no decision has been taken yet on including a column on caste, sources said on Sunday.
The Census 2021 was supposed to start on 1 April, 2020 but had to be postponed due to Covid-10 pandemic. The country has conducted Census every ten years starting 1881.
Sources said the decadal census will be conducted soon. On inclusion of collecting data of caste, sources said it is yet to be decided.
The data on decadal Census is being eagerly awaited as the implementation of Women's Reservation Act enacted last year.
Also, due to the absence of latest population figures, the government is formulating policies and allocating subsidies based on Census 2011.
The entire Census and the updation of National Population Register (NPR) is expected to cost the exchequer Rs 12,000 crore. This time, the exercise will be the first digital census, which gives citizens an option to self-enumerate.
The NPR will be compulsory for those citizens who want to exercise the right to fill the census form on their own rather than through government enumerators.
Sources also said the government will implement 'One Nation, One Election' within its current tenure. They said they expect to get the support from all parties on the issue.