{"id":37378,"date":"2023-09-21T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T03:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=37378"},"modified":"2025-04-22T13:39:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T08:09:55","slug":"census-delimitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/census-delimitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Census, Delimitation Exercise after 2024 Election"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Census in India?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Delimitation?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u00a0What is Delimitation Commission?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\u00a0<\/h2>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam \u2013 The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 \u2013 was passed by Lok Sabha.\n<ul>\n<li>The bill provides for 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>While speaking during the debate on this bill in Lok Sabha, Home Minister Shah asserted that census and delimitation will begin soon after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Census in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Population Census provides basic statistics on state of human resources, demography, culture and economic structure at local, regional and national level.<\/li>\n<li>Beginning in the <strong>year 1872, when the first census<\/strong> was conducted non-synchronously, the census enumeration exercise in India is carried out in every 10 years.\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>first synchronous census was taken under British rule in 1881<\/strong>, by W.C. Plowden, Census Commissioner of India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The responsibility of conducting the decadal census rests with the Office of the <strong><u>Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India<\/u><\/strong>, Ministry of Home Affairs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Legal\/Constitutional basis of Census in India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Population census is listed in <strong>Union List (entry 69)<\/strong> of Seventh Schedule in Indian Constitution.<\/li>\n<li>Census is conducted under the provisions of the <strong>Census Act, 1948<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Process of census enumeration<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Census Operations in India have been carried out in two phases:\n<ul>\n<li>House-listing and Housing Census and<\/li>\n<li>Population Enumeration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Population Enumeration follows the Housing Census within a gap of six to eight months.<\/li>\n<li>In Population Enumeration phase each person is enumerated and her\/his individual particulars like <u>Age, Marital status, Religion, mother tongue etc.<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Delimitation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>According to the Election Commission, the word \u2018delimitation\u2019 is defined as \u201c<strong>the act or process of fixing limits\/boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body<\/strong>\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>In the Indian context, the exercise of redrawing the boundaries of Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly Constituencies in a region is known as delimitation.<\/li>\n<li>In this process, the number of seats allocated to a particular state\/UT in Lok Sabha or in the Legislative Assembly may vary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Need<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Delimitation helps in redrawing the boundaries (based on the data of the last Census) in such a way that the <u>population of all the constituencies, as far as practicable, remain equal throughout the State\/UT<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>It ensures a fair division of geographical areas so that all political parties or candidates contesting elections<strong> have a level playing field in terms of a number of voters<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Constitutional Provisions regarding delimitation in India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Article 82<\/strong> and <strong>Article 170 <\/strong>of the Constitution empowers the Parliament to readjust the allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of States respectively, after every census.<\/li>\n<li>Accordingly, the Parliament enacts a <u>Delimitation Commission Act<\/u> and an independent high-powered panel known as the <strong>Delimitation Commission<\/strong> is constituted to carry out the exercise of delimitation.<\/li>\n<li>The Parliament has enacted the Delimitation Commission Acts in <strong>1952<\/strong>, <strong>1962<\/strong>, <strong>1972<\/strong> and <strong>2002<\/strong> for this purpose.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>While the <u>Census has been carried out seven times<\/u> since Independence, <strong>delimitation has happened only four times<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>There was no Delimitation Commission Act after the 1981 and 1991 census.<\/li>\n<li>The present delimitation of constituencies has been done on the basis of 2001 census data under the provisions of <strong>Delimitation Commission Act, 2002<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><u>The next Delimitation Commission will be set up after 2026.<\/u><\/li>\n<li>Further, <strong>Article 330<\/strong> and <strong>Article 332<\/strong> of the Constitution provide for re-fixing the number of seats reserved for <strong>SCs<\/strong> and <strong>STs<\/strong> in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of the states, on the basis of the 2001 census.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Last delimitation exercise<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The last delimitation exercise, in 2002, only <u>involved itself with redrawing the boundaries of constituencies.<\/u><\/li>\n<li>It <strong>did not<\/strong> result in the <u>increase in the number of constituencies.<\/u>\n<ul>\n<li>This means that the number of Lok Sabha constituencies has not changed since 1976.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Controversy around delimitation<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Constitution mandates that states receive seats based on a population ratio.<\/li>\n<li>This unintentionally implied that states (mostly in North India) <u>with lower population control efforts may claim a larger share of Lok Sabha seats<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>And the southern states that promoted family planning faced the possibility of having their seats reduced.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>impact of delimitation on inter-state seat distribution<\/strong> is a strong reason for political tussles and controversies.<\/li>\n<li>That is why the strength of Lok Sabha has remained frozen at 543 since the 1970s.\n<ul>\n<li>In 1976, the then government brought the 42nd Amendment and suspended the redrawing of seat boundaries and seat allocation until 2001.<\/li>\n<li>This suspension was further extended till 2026 by enacting 84<sup>th<\/sup> Amendment Act in 2002.<\/li>\n<li>The year <strong>2026 was chosen<\/strong> because, according to the National Population Policy, <strong><u>by 2026, there should be a roughly equal number of births and deaths in India<\/u><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Delimitation Commission?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Delimitation Commission is a high-powered committee entrusted with the task of drawing and redrawing of boundaries of different constituencies for state assembly and Lok Sabha election.<\/li>\n<li>It is <u>appointed by the President<\/u> and works in collaboration with the Election Commission.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Commission consists of \u2013<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>A retired or working Supreme Court Judge (chairperson)<\/li>\n<li>Election Commissioner<\/li>\n<li>Concerned State Election Commissioners<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Commission\u2019s orders have the force of law and\u00a0<strong>cannot be called in question before any court<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The Commission\u2019s orders are laid before the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies concerned, <u>but they cannot effect any modifications in the orders<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)\u00a0What is the importance of census enumeration exercise?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Census is the basis for reviewing the country&#8217;s progress in the past decade on socio-economic parameters, monitoring the ongoing schemes of the government and plan for the future.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)\u00a0Who appoints Delimitation Commission in India?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In India, the Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India. The Delimitation Commission is responsible for the delimitation or re-drawing of electoral boundaries for both parliamentary and state assembly constituencies. It determines the boundaries of these constituencies based on the principles of population and territorial distribution.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/before-quota-delimitation-what-is-it-why-is-it-needed-8949102\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Before women\u2019s quota in Parliament and state Assemblies, the issue of delimitation: What is it, why is it needed<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/censusindia.gov.in\/census.website\/node\/378#:~:text=The%20Census%20Operations%20in%20India,listed%20in%20the%20relevant%20schedules.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Census Division<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/censusindia.gov.in\/census.website\/node\/343\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Office of Registrar General and census Commissioner<\/u><\/a><u> <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/other-states\/ec-releases-assam-delimitation-proposals-no-change-in-number-of-lok-sabha-assembly-seats\/article66990228.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>| The Hindu<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Delimitation is the act of fixing limits\/boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}