Question

In which year after independence census was conducted for the first time in India?
1. 1947
2. 1950
3. 1948
4. 1951

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 4 : 1951

The correct answer is 1951.

• After independence, the first census was conducted in India in 1951.
  • Under the British Viceroy Lord Mayo in 1872, the first full census was held in 1881.
  • After 1949, it has been organized by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
  • All censuses since 1951 were conducted under the Indian Census Act of 1948.
  • The first census of independent India was conducted in 1951, which was the seventh census in its continuous series. The enumeration period of this census was from 9 to 28 February 1951.
  • The last census was held in 2011, while the next census will be held in 2021. But it has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• In 1951, at the time of the first population Census, just 18% of Indians were literate while life expectancy was 32 years.
• Based on the 1951 census of displaced persons, 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan (both West and East Pakistan ) from India, while 7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan (both West and East Pakistan).
• A systematic and modern population census, in its present form, was conducted non synchronously between 1865 and 1872 in different parts of the country.
• This effort culminating in 1872 has been popularly labeled as the first population census of India.
• However, the first synchronous census in India was held in 1881. Since then, censuses have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years.