Former bureaucrats' group raises red flags over Census 2027, warns against 'NPR by stealth'

By A Representative  

In a strongly-worded open letter to the government, a collective of 108 former top civil servants has raised serious concerns over the design and conduct of the upcoming Census 2027, warning that the expanded questionnaire risks compromising the confidentiality and credibility of India's foundational statistical exercise.

The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), comprising retired officers from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and other central services, has written to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, flagging apprehensions that the Census is being covertly used to update the National Population Register (NPR).

Questionnaire Expands from 29 to 40 Questions

The letter points out that the Census questionnaire has expanded from 29 questions in 2011 to 40 in 2027. Among the new additions are questions seeking parents' names, spouses' names, permanent residential addresses, nationality as declared, place of Covid-19 vaccination, number of bank accounts, and details of Aadhaar, voter ID, passport, driving licence and mobile phone numbers.

The group argues that much of this information has little relevance for generating population statistics or informing public policy, and that several data points are already held in government databases. "Asking citizens to reproduce information already available to the State creates additional burdens without an evident statistical justification," the letter states.

'Census Must Not Become a Vehicle for NPR'

The CCG has expressed particular concern that some newly introduced questions—especially those concerning parents, permanent addresses and nationality—could facilitate preparation or updating of the NPR, which in turn is associated with the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

"If information is collected ostensibly for the Census and subsequently transferred or mined for another governmental purpose, the confidentiality principle underpinning the Census would be completely compromised," the letter warns.

The group emphasises that if the government intends to undertake or update the NPR, it should do so openly, identify the legal basis, explain the purpose, and involve State Governments as primary stakeholders.

Overloaded Questionnaire Risks Unreliable Data

The signatories caution that the addition of numerous detailed and personal questions creates a serious risk of respondent fatigue and enumerator exhaustion. Information such as Aadhaar, passport, voter ID, driving licence or bank-account details may not be available to the respondent at the time of enumeration.

"The burden on enumerators is equally significant. A large part of the field workforce consists of schoolteachers and other personnel who must record detailed responses under considerable time constraints. A questionnaire that is unnecessarily long increases the likelihood of errors and unreliable entries," the letter states.

Privacy and Constitutional Concerns

The group has flagged that questions concerning bank accounts, identification numbers, telephone numbers, vaccination locations, and names of parents or spouses require particular justification. "Personal information should not be collected merely because it can be collected," it asserts.

The letter notes that while the government may have statutory authority to ask questions under the Census framework, citizens retain constitutional protections of individual liberty and privacy.

Caste, Religion and Language Representation

The CCG has also criticised the proposed treatment of caste as inadequate for a meaningful understanding of India's social composition. The group points out that simply separating Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from an open-ended "others" category risks producing thousands of caste entries that cannot readily be rationalised—a problem encountered during the 2011-12 Socio-Economic and Caste Census.

The letter specifically calls attention to Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities, which suffered severe historical discrimination and continue to experience social exclusion. "The present questionnaire does not provide a reliable means of establishing their numbers," the group states.

On religion and language, the CCG has urged the government to recognise India's lived realities. It notes that some tribal and nomadic communities contain families where different members follow different religious traditions, and that a questionnaire requiring identification with a single religious category risks misrepresenting these communities.

Similarly, the group has flagged that the previous Census grouped 1,369 reported mother tongues into 121 languages, with substantial languages treated as subsets of larger linguistic categories. "India's languages are not merely statistical units; they are repositories of culture, literature, memory and identity," the letter emphasises.

Call for Urgent Course Correction

The CCG has urged the government to urgently consult independent demographers, statisticians, social scientists and other experts, and reconsider questions that have no clear statistical purpose. It has demanded that Census information remain confidential and not be repurposed for unrelated governmental databases without a transparent legal framework.

"The Census is not merely another government exercise. It is the statistical foundation on which future planning, resource allocation, public policy and democratic representation will rest," the letter concludes.

The letter bears the signatures of 108 former civil servants, including former Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, former Foreign Secretaries Shivshankar Menon and Sujatha Singh, former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, and former Chief Secretaries of several States.