Parl panel bats for intercensal surveys, gender-inclusive census town norms | India News
NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has called for “intercensal surveys” — surveys between two successive censuses — in India considering that cities and urban settlements undergo major changes in 10 years, and has also recommended review of the criteria for notifying “census towns” to make it more gender inclusive.At present, to qualify an urban area to be a census town, 75% male main working population must engage in non-agricultural activities. As per Census Commissioner of India, the proportion of female workers engaged in non-agricultural activities is not used as a criteria for classifying ‘census towns’ because female workforce participation fluctuates significantly due to social factors, under-reporting, and the informal nature of the work.The parliamentary standing committee on housing and urban affairs has recommended that this criteria is “based on a male-centric understanding of work and does not adequately reflect the growing participation of women in economic activities”. The panel added, “It also fails to capture the contribution of women engaged in self-employment, informal work, home-based work, service sector activities and other forms of employment that are often undercounted.”It has highlighted how female labour force participation has been steadily increasing and labour force participation rate for persons aged 15 years and above stood at 34.8% in Aug, 2026. “In this context, continuing with a criterion based exclusively on male main workers would not reflect the changing socio-economic realities of India,” the panel said.The panel, in its report, has referred to a ministry’s suggestion for introduction of periodic intercensal surveys to capture rapid changes in urbanisation and emerging settlement patterns, as well as to address data gaps in the targeting, implementation and monitoring of various schemes and programmes.It has recommended the ministry, in consultation with the Office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (ORGI) and other ministries and departments concerned to examine the feasibility of instituting periodic intercensal surveys for capturing changes in urbanisation, emerging settlement patterns and other relevant urban indicators.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
ORGI had informed the panel that its primary mandate is to conduct the census and discharge related statutory functions while adding that proposal for conducting periodic intercensal surveys to capture rapid urban changes is a policy matter which may be examined separately by govt.The committee has also recommended the ministry to engage with states and UTs after the release of Census 2027 data to examine the feasibility of converting eligible census towns into statutory urban local bodies, while maintaining an updated database of their status.
