Census to be further delayed, postponed till Sept 30, say officials

The exercise to carry out the decennial census has been further postponed at least till September 30, officials said.

The housing listing phase of the census and the exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR) were scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a communication to all states, the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India conveyed that the date of freezing of administrative boundaries has been extended till June 30.

According to norms, census can be conducted only three months after the freezing of boundary limits of administrative units such as districts, sub-districts, tehsils, talukas and police stations.

In its letter, the census authorities, while referring to an earlier communication to extend the date of freezing of boundaries up to December 31 in 2020, said it has now been decided by the competent authority to further extend the date o