UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Concerns over the Census questions
Q1. The schedules of Census 2027 are notified, and its field operations directed, by which one of the following offices?
- A. The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, functioning under the Ministry of Home Affairs
- B. The National Statistical Office, functioning under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
- C. The Unique Identification Authority of India, a statutory authority under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
- D. The National Commission on Population, serviced by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Q2. Within the April–September 2026 window prescribed for the first phase of Census 2027, the authority that decides the exact 30-day period during which house-to-house enumeration is actually carried out in a given area is:
- A. The Government of the State or Union Territory concerned, as per its convenience
- B. The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, by a uniform national calendar
- C. The Principal Census Officer of the district, in consultation with charge officers
- D. The Ministry of Home Affairs, by an order issued under the Census Act, 1948
Q3. In Census 2027, the expression 'enumeration of castes' denotes which one of the following arrangements?
- A. Caste of every respondent is recorded as stated by the respondent, in addition to the existing Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe particulars
- B. Caste of every respondent is recorded by selecting an entry from a pre-notified all-India list of castes drawn up before enumeration
- C. Caste is recorded only for respondents outside the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, all other respondents being wholly exempt from the question
- D. Caste of the head of the household alone is recorded, and is deemed to apply to every member of that household
Q4. Consider the following statements regarding caste enumeration in Census 2027:
1. Caste particulars are to be recorded during the Population Enumeration phase.
2. Up to Census 2011, systematic enumeration of caste was confined to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
3. The last census in which caste data of all castes were compiled was the Census of 1941.
4. Caste particulars in Census 2027 are to be recorded on paper schedules and digitised subsequently by the Registrar General.
Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?
- Caste particulars are to be recorded during the Population Enumeration phase.
- Up to Census 2011, systematic enumeration of caste was confined to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
- The last census in which caste data of all castes were compiled was the Census of 1941.
- Caste particulars in Census 2027 are to be recorded on paper schedules and digitised subsequently by the Registrar General.
- A. 1 and 2
- B. 3 only
- C. 3 and 4
- D. 1, 3 and 4
Q5. The Population Enumeration schedule of Census 2027, criticised for seeking Aadhaar, mobile number and bank-account particulars, comprises how many questions in all?
Q6. The Aadhaar number, whose inclusion in the Census 2027 schedule has been questioned, is issued by a statutory authority established under which one of the following?
- A. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, under the Aadhaar Act, 2016
- B. The Ministry of Home Affairs, under the Citizenship Act, 1955
- C. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008
- D. The Ministry of Finance, under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002
Q7. Consider the following statements about the legal basis of the census in India:
1. The census is conducted under the Census Act, 1948, a law enacted by Parliament.
2. Census returns are public documents that any citizen may inspect as of right on payment of the prescribed fee.
3. A census officer who intentionally puts an offensive or improper question is liable to punishment which may extend to imprisonment for three years.
4. Census being a State subject, every State legislature must enact its own law for the conduct of the census within its territory.
Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?
- The census is conducted under the Census Act, 1948, a law enacted by Parliament.
- Census returns are public documents that any citizen may inspect as of right on payment of the prescribed fee.
- A census officer who intentionally puts an offensive or improper question is liable to punishment which may extend to imprisonment for three years.
- Census being a State subject, every State legislature must enact its own law for the conduct of the census within its territory.
- A. 1 and 3
- B. 2 and 4
- C. 2, 3 and 4
- D. 4 only
Q8. Under the Census Act, 1948, the confidentiality attaching to individual census returns means which one of the following?
- A. Entries in census schedules are not open to inspection as of right and are inadmissible as evidence in civil proceedings, only aggregates being released
- B. Entries in census schedules may be furnished to any public authority that seeks them in writing for an administrative purpose, after informing the respondent
- C. Entries in census schedules are permanently sealed, so that even aggregate figures derived from them require prior approval of Parliament for release
- D. Entries in census schedules may be inspected by the State Government of the respondent's area but by no authority of the Union Government
Q9. The Census of 1881 is described as India's first 'synchronous' census. This description signifies which one of the following?
- A. It was taken on a uniform basis throughout the country with reference to a single point of time
- B. It was the first census whose enumeration period was aligned with that of the census taken in Britain
- C. It was the first census in which householders themselves filled the schedules on a single prescribed day
- D. It was the first census conducted by a permanent census organisation created for the purpose
Q10. Census 2027 will occupy which one of the following positions in the sequence of censuses conducted in India?
- A. 15th in the series and 8th since Independence
- B. 16th in the series and 8th since Independence
- C. 16th in the series and 7th since Independence
- D. 17th in the series and 9th since Independence
Q11. In the Houselisting and Housing Census of Census 2027, 'self-enumeration' refers to which one of the following arrangements?
- A. Households entering their own particulars on a designated portal during a 15-day window falling immediately before the 30-day house-to-house operation
- B. Enumerators recording the particulars of their own households first, as a training exercise preceding the 30-day house-to-house operation
- C. Households writing their own particulars into the schedule in the enumerator's presence during the 30-day house-to-house operation, instead of oral canvassing
- D. Charge officers compiling the particulars of households found locked or absent throughout the 30-day house-to-house operation
Q12. In Census 2027, the operation designated 'Population Enumeration' is best described as which one of the following?
- A. Canvassing of an individual-level schedule on demographic, socio-economic, cultural, migration and fertility particulars of every person
- B. Listing of all buildings, census houses and households with their amenities and assets, which precedes the individual count
- C. Updating of the register of usual residents maintained under the citizenship law, carried out alongside the census schedules
- D. A sample re-enumeration taken after the count to estimate the extent of omission and error in coverage