The Modi-led government is widening the doors of Census 2027 to private individuals and organisations at a time when the collection of personal data has become inseparable from growing fears of citizenship scrutiny and electoral exclusion. A notification issued by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India on October 16, amending the Census Rules, 1990, now explicitly permits teachers from private educational institutions, members of societies and trusts, and virtually any person whom a state government or Union Territory administration considers “suitable” to be appointed as Census enumerators.
The timing makes the decision particularly alarming. The country is already witnessing opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, amid concerns over the exclusion of eligible voters. The Census questionnaire, meanwhile, seeks information extending beyond conventional demographic particulars, including Aadhaar, voter ID, passport and mobile phone details, bank-account information, and the dates and places of birth of parents.
Detailed reports may be read here, here, here, here, here and here.
The government has offered administrative convenience as a justification for widening the workforce. But a shortage of government personnel cannot explain away the dangers of unchecked discretion over who gets to collect citizens’ private information. Nor can assurances of data security substitute for transparent rules that prevent the exercise from being weaponised. The Census is a nationwide exercise through which the State collects sensitive information from millions of households. Expanding access to that information through an opaque and discretionary recruitment process, without publicly establishing robust safeguards against political interference and data misuse, raises serious questions about who the government intends to empower and for what purpose.
A backdoor for the Sangh Parivar?
The amended rules permit teachers from government, local authority, aided and unaided private educational institutions, as well as teachers associated with societies and trusts, to be appointed as enumerators. Clerks and officials from government departments, public sector undertakings, banks, companies and other institutions are also eligible. The third category allows the appointment of “any person” considered suitable by the State government or Union Territory administration.
The last provision is especially troubling. It leaves considerable discretion with the appointing authorities without specifying, in the notification, sufficiently clear criteria for eligibility, political neutrality or independent scrutiny.
On October 17, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh accused the government of turning Census recruitment into an employment scheme for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers. In a post on X, Ramesh drew attention to an RSS training camp held in Belgaum from July 10 to 12, 2026, which he said had focused on Census 2027.
He also questioned the composition of the Union Home Ministry’s High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes, constituted on May 26, and its October 14 call for public inputs from Indian and foreign organisations. Linking these developments to the October 16 notification, Ramesh alleged that the government was preparing to recruit thousands of RSS-BJP workers under what he described as a “Rozgar Guarantee Yojana”. His warning was unequivocal: “. Just like with the SIR, dangerous manipulations will be carried out in the Census data as well.”
मोदी सरकार ने अब जनगणना 2027 के लिए गणनाकर्मियों के रूप में नियुक्त किए जा सकने वाले लोगों का दायरा बढ़ा दिया है। इसके पीछे काफी गड़बड़झाला है।
10 से 12 जुलाई 2026 के दौरान RSS ने बेलगाम में अपने कार्यकर्ताओं के लिए एक बड़ा प्रशिक्षण शिविर आयोजित किया था, जिसका एकमात्र एजेंडा जनगणना 2027 था।
केंद्रीय गृह मंत्रालय द्वारा 26 मई 2026 को गठित डेमोग्राफिक बदलावों पर उच्चस्तरीय समिति ने अब देश की डेमोग्राफी में हो रहे बदलावों को लेकर आम जनता के साथ-साथ भारतीय और विदेशी संगठनों से भी सुझाव मांगे हैं। इस समिति में उच्चस्तरीय केवल एक ही बात है-इसके सदस्यों का RSS से जुड़े संगठनों और लोगों से संबंध। इसलिए हम जानते हैं कि ये सुझाव कहां से आएंगे।
16 अक्टूबर 2026 को जारी जनगणना के नोटिफिकेशन को 10 से 12 जुलाई 2026 के RSS के प्रशिक्षण शिविर और 14अक्टूबर 2026 को डेमोग्राफी में बदलावों पर बनी समिति द्वारा सुझाव मांगने के संदर्भ में देखा जाना चाहिए।
यह साफ है कि यह हजारों RSS/BJP कार्यकर्ताओं के लिए एक रोजगार गारंटी योजना है। इससे पहले ही बिगाड़ी जा चुकी जनगणना की प्रक्रिया और भी दूषित होगी। एक और संस्था को बर्बाद किया जा रहा है। SIR की तरह जनगणना के आंकड़ों में भी खतरनाक तरीके से हेरफेर किया जाएगा।
PM-HM की जोड़ी के षड्यंत्रकारी मंसूबों की कोई सीमा नहीं है।
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 17, 2026
The CPI(M) has raised similar concerns. In a statement posted on X, party leader M.A. Baby warned that the amended rules could facilitate the entry of Sangh Parivar-linked individuals into the Census workforce, exposing citizens’ personal information to potential political misuse. He demanded that the amendments be withdrawn and an all-party consultation on Census methodology be convened immediately.
The Union Home Ministry’s amendments to the Census Rules are not as innocuous as they might seem at first glance.
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.
On 24 August, I had submitted a memo on behalf of CPI(M) 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 birth place 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 fact that the Modi 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.
— M A Baby (@MABABYCPIM) October 19, 2026
These allegations expose a fundamental problem with the government’s approach. When a ruling establishment has repeatedly been accused of using state institutions to advance its political agenda, widening access to sensitive household information through loosely defined recruitment criteria cannot be treated as an innocent bureaucratic exercise. The issue is not merely who gets a temporary job; it is about who is entrusted with collecting intimate details about people’s identities, families, documents and circumstances, and what prevents that access from being exploited.
Why does the Census need so much personal information?
The expanded recruitment rules are only one part of a larger problem: the growing volume of sensitive information being sought from households. As previously discussed, the 40-question Population Enumeration questionnaire includes several data fields not included in the 2011 Census. These include nationality, the spouse’s name, parents’ particulars, permanent residential address, digital literacy and the place of COVID-19 vaccination. Respondents are also asked about bank accounts and whether they possess Aadhaar, voter ID, a passport, a driving licence and a mobile phone.
The CPI(M) had already raised objections to this questionnaire. In a memorandum submitted to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner on August 24, M.A. Baby demanded that details such as Aadhaar, voter ID, passport and mobile numbers, bank-account information, religion and parents’ places of birth not be collected. The memorandum also sought strict safeguards against linking Census data with other databases.
These are questions the government cannot evade. What is the precise statistical necessity of collecting each additional data field? Who will have access to it? How long will it be retained? What prevents it from being linked to databases maintained for entirely different purposes?
A Census official told The Hindu that data collected through enumerators’ mobile applications would be centralised and deleted from the enumerators’ devices after their work was completed. The official also claimed that adequate checks were in place to protect privacy. That assurance does not answer the central questions. Deleting data from an enumerator’s phone does not establish who can access the central database, what safeguards prevent unauthorised sharing, or whether the information can be linked to other government records. Centralisation is not, by itself, a guarantee of security.
From SIR to Census: the danger of turning data into a tool of exclusion
The controversy cannot be separated from the political context in which it is unfolding. There are also reasons to question the political neutrality of the data-collection process itself. The Hindu reported in June 2026 that enumerators in Rajasthan had allegedly been instructed not to select certain government scheme-related responses that could reflect poorly on the government. The reported examples included open defecation, the use of wood or dung cakes as household fuel, and access to tap water. If government personnel are being instructed to avoid recording responses that might embarrass the ruling establishment, the integrity of the Census is already at stake. A national statistical exercise cannot be permitted to become a public-relations exercise for the government.
The shortage-of-staff argument is no excuse
The government has defended the expansion on practical grounds. According to The Hindu, around 34 lakh enumerators will be needed for the Population Enumeration phase. The exercise is scheduled for February 2027 across much of the country, while enumeration in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa is scheduled from December 1, 2026, to January 4, 2027. School examinations, Assembly elections and the deployment of government teachers for electoral duties have added to the administrative pressure.
Former Deputy Registrar General of India K. Narayanan Unni told The Hindu that the move appeared to reflect a shortage of government schoolteachers and personnel from government-aided schools. But administrative pressure cannot justify an unrestricted expansion of the workforce without adequate accountability. The previous practice of relying largely on government schoolteachers, revenue officials and other public personnel was not without its own shortcomings. Yet the move to widen recruitment demands a clear explanation of how standards of impartiality, confidentiality and accountability will be maintained.
The legal challenges surrounding the deployment of private schoolteachers further complicate the picture. The Hindu reported that the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed two Haryana government communications seeking details of teachers for Census duties on October 16. Earlier, the Bombay High Court had granted interim protection to associations representing more than 500 private unaided and minority schools in Maharashtra against notices, appointment orders and coercive action relating to Census deployment.
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