New Delhi, Oct 19 The change in Census rules allowing states and Union territories to appoint teachers from “aided or unaided private bodies” as enumerators would enable “backdoor entry to the Sangh Parivar,” CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baby alleged on Monday.
In a post on X, the CPI(M) leader demanded that the government call an all-party consultation on Census methodology.
The Centre, on October 16, amended the Census Rules, 1990, allowing states and Union territories to appoint teachers of “aided or unaided private bodies” as enumerators during the Census, against the backdrop of several high courts staying the government orders requisitioning the services of such staff.
Baby said the Union Home Ministry’s amendments to the Census Rules are not as innocuous as they might seem.
“The newly notified amendments open up enumerator roles to private school teachers, members of ‘institutions, societies and trusts,’ and any person deemed ‘suitable’ by the concerned State Government or Union territory administration. This is a means of ensuring backdoor entry to the Sangh Parivar to access the private data of Indian citizens,” Baby said.
He said he submitted a memo on behalf of CPI(M) on August 24 to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner demanding that personal details sought in the notified questionnaire for the second phase, such as Aadhaar, voter ID, passport, mobile number, details of bank accounts, and religion and birthplace of parents, not be collected.
The memo also called for strict safeguards against linking Census data with other databases.
“Deploying Sangh Parivar agents to collect individual details that do not serve the Census purpose will weaponise the Census exercise for citizenship determination and electoral exclusion,” the party general secretary said.
He also alleged that the fact that the government is going ahead with this in the midst of a nationwide upheaval against the SIR process shows its “blatant disregard for public sentiment and constitutional norms.”
“This cannot be allowed. The notified amendments must be withdrawn, and an all-party consultation on Census methodology must be held immediately. The Census must not become the next SIR in the hands of Modi-Amit Shah-Mohan Bhagwat,” he said.
A gazette notification issued last Friday by Registrar General of India (RGI), Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, said “teachers, clerks, or any official or any person” can be appointed as census officers by state governments and Union territories as enumerators.
The notification specifies that “teachers of any educational institution of the government, local authority, aided or unaided private bodies, societies or trusts; (ii) Clerks or any official of the central government, state government, local authority or establishment (including public sector undertakings, statutory bodies, banks, companies, institutions, societies and trusts); (iii) Any person, as the state government or the Union territory administration may consider suitable” can be appointed as Census officers as an enumerator.
The changes come as many high courts across the country gave relief to teachers of aided or unaided private bodies from being roped in for duties as Census enumerators.
(PTI News)
