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Census counts residents, not citizens: Mizoram to include refugees

By CAShorts DeskPublished Sources: PTI (via ThePrint and NE Now), Northeast News, News Arena India, IANS (via Morung Express); Government of Goa press note on Census 2027; Ministry of Home Affairs

Census counts residents, not citizens: Mizoram to include refugees
Illustration (AI-generated)

Refugees residing in Mizoram will be counted in Phase II of Census 2027, officials said at a review conference chaired by the Chief Secretary in Aizawl on 10 October 2026. Being counted confers no Indian citizenship. All 16 Scheduled Castes in Mizoram will be enumerated, sharing Aadhaar is not compulsory, and the Centre has allocated Rs 19.19 crore.

Syllabus: Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS1 · Women, Population & Urbanisation; GS2 · Government Policies

Why it matters

A Chin family from Myanmar living in a relief camp or a rented room in Mizoram will be on the census form. That gives the family no vote and no citizenship, which is decided under the Citizenship Act, 1955. It does tell planners how many people really use a district's schools, water and hospitals; the Deputy Director of Census Operations said in April 2026 that the count is needed to show the strain on local resources. The assurance matters because fear keeps people away from an enumerator. A census that people trust, with records kept confidential by law, gives better numbers for funds, welfare schemes and the drawing of constituencies.

Prelims pointers

  • Census: entry 69 of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule; Parliament alone legislates on it.
  • Census Act, 1948: the Central Government notifies a census; section 15 keeps census records confidential, closed to inspection and not admissible as evidence.
  • Registrar General and Census Commissioner: the office under the Ministry of Home Affairs that conducts the census; each State has a Directorate of Census Operations.
  • Article 326: elections are by adult suffrage; only a citizen aged 18 or more is registered as a voter, on rolls prepared under the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
  • Article 341: the President notifies the Scheduled Castes for each State; only Parliament, by law, can add a caste to the list or remove one.
  • Aadhaar Act, 2016: Aadhaar goes to a resident, who has lived in India for 182 days or more in the preceding 12 months; it is not proof of citizenship.
  • India is party to neither the 1951 Refugee Convention nor its 1967 Protocol; a Standard Operating Procedure of December 2011 lets States recommend a Long Term Visa.
  • Census history: the first census was in 1872, the first synchronous one in 1881 and the last in 2011; castes were last fully counted in 1931.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to the Census of India, consider the following statements:

1. Census is a subject in the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution.

2. Under the Census Act, 1948, census records are not open to inspection and are not admissible as evidence.

3. The Registrar General and Census Commissioner functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 and 2 only
  2. (b) 2 and 3 only
  3. (c) 1 and 3 only
  4. (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

1 is incorrect: Census is entry 69 of the Union List, not the Concurrent List. 2 is correct: section 15 of the Census Act, 1948 keeps census records confidential, closed to inspection and not admissible as evidence. 3 is correct: the Registrar General and Census Commissioner is an office of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

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