Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India

The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, is the national authority responsible for population census operations and major systems of demographic registration and statistics. Its mandate includes the decennial census, coordination of civil registration, the Sample Registration System, and maintenance of the National Population Register under the applicable laws.

Legal and institutional basis

The office performs distinct functions under census, civil registration and citizenship laws.

• Entry 69 of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule places census within Parliament's legislative domain.
• The Census Act, 1948 empowers the Central Government to declare a census and appoint a Census Commissioner; the Census Rules, 1990 regulate its implementation.
• Under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, the Registrar-General coordinates and unifies civil registration across the country and provides general directions.
• The National Population Register is prepared under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship Rules, 2003.

Core mandate and functions

• The office plans, coordinates and supervises the decennial population census, while Directors of Census Operations and other census officers implement it in states and local areas.
• It prepares schedules, instructions and technical procedures, and supervises enumeration, scrutiny, processing, tabulation, analysis and publication.
• It disseminates aggregate data on demographic, social, economic and housing characteristics.
• It coordinates the Civil Registration System for births and deaths and operates the Sample Registration System to generate demographic estimates, including birth and death rates.

Caste enumeration and data safeguards

The Census Commissioner administers questions authorized by the Central Government and does not independently determine the political scope of caste enumeration.

• Under Section 8 of the Census Act, read with the Rules, census officers ask questions authorized by the Central Government; the choice and classification of caste questions therefore depend on government decisions.
• The office must ensure uniform enumeration, data quality, confidentiality and publication of authorized aggregate results.
• Under Section 15 of the Census Act, individual census records are protected from inspection and entries are not admissible as evidence in civil or criminal proceedings.