New Delhi: If the government intends to undertake or update the NPR, it should say so openly, members of the Constitutional Conduct Group wrote in an open letter to the central government. The letter, signed by 108 people, expresses concerns over the features of Census 2027. From the number of questions asked, the information sought from the citizens, to suggestions for course correction, the collective has urged the Centre to act now.
The letter highlighted that the Census questionnaire has expanded from 29 questions in 2011 to 40 in 2027. Among the additions are questions seeking parents’ names, spouses’ names, permanent residential addresses, nationality as declared, place of Covid vaccination, number of bank accounts and, where available, Aadhaar, voter ID, passport, driving-licence and mobile-phone details.
“Much of this information appears to have little relevance for generating population statistics or informing public policy. Several of these 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,” it read.
“Will information gathered for a confidential statistical exercise remain within that exercise, or will it subsequently be extracted, combined with other databases and used for purposes unrelated to the Census?”
Question of National Population Register
The CCG collective clarified that it is not against the preparation of a population register of citizen register if it is done legally. But such an exercise must be done transparently, it stated, “ through an explicitly defined process, and not by using the Census as a surrogate mechanism to meet unstated objectives.”
Some of the newly introduced questions, such as those about parents, permanent addresses and nationality, could facilitate the preparation or updating of the National Population Register (NPR), which in turn is associated with the proposed National Register of Citizens.
“If information is collected ostensibly for the Census and subsequently transferred or mined for another governmental purpose, the confidentiality principle underpinning the Census would definitely be compromised,” the letter added. “It must not be done by quietly expanding the Census questionnaire.”
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Exhaustive list of questions and privacy concerns
The letter argues that the proposed Census questionnaire is too long, intrusive and poorly designed, creating risks to both data quality and public trust. Asking detailed information for every household member could lead to respondent fatigue, while enumerators—many of whom are teachers and other officials working under time constraints—may make more errors. Personal details such as bank accounts, identification numbers, phone numbers and spouses’ names should be collected only when they serve a clear statistical or policy purpose. The authors also warn that sensitive Census data must not enable profiling, discrimination or political targeting.
The letter added that the Census must accurately capture India’s enormous social, religious and linguistic diversity. The proposed caste enumeration could generate thousands of difficult-to-rationalise entries, while Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities may remain inadequately represented. Rigid religious categories could misrepresent communities with diverse or overlapping traditions, while aggregating thousands of reported mother tongues into a smaller number of languages risks erasing linguistic identities.
Finally, the authors urge the government to simplify the questionnaire, protect confidentiality, reconsider unnecessary questions and redesign approaches to caste, religion and language. They argue that the Census is foundational to policymaking, resource allocation and democratic representation, and its credibility must be protected.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)