A day after the Union government authorised the appointment of private schoolteachers and members of “institutions, societies and trusts” as Census enumerators, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday (October 17, 2026) alleged that the move appeared to be an employment scheme for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members.
The Population Enumeration (PE) phase, which will be conducted across the country in February 2027, also coincides with annual school examinations and board examinations. In poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa, the door-to-door enumeration will start on December 1 and end on January 4, 2027, followed by Assembly elections, where the government teachers will be put on election duty. Ramesh said in a post on X, “During July 10-12, 2026, the RSS held a big training camp in Belgaum for its cadres on the single-point agenda of Census 2027. The High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes set up by the Union Home Ministry on May 26, 2026, has just asked for inputs from the public, including Indian and foreign organisations, on demographic changes in the country.
Most government school teachers have also been engaged as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls over the past year. Former Deputy Registrar General of India K. “The move seems to have been triggered by the fact that not enough government schoolteachers, or even those from government-aided schools, are available for the exercise. Government schools have not grown in proportion to the population, and that is why the need to engage private teachers,” Mr. Until now, mostly government schoolteachers, revenue officials and other State government employees had been engaged to carry out the enumeration work, and there was no precedent of private people being engaged in the previous Census. Mr. The only thing high level of this committee is the affiliation of its members to the RSS ecosystem. So we know where these inputs will come from.”
A former Census official said that though the provision of “any person” being appointed as Census enumerators existed in the Census Rules, 1990, there was no precedent of private persons being engaged for the exercise, and a similar suggestion for the 1991 Census had not been accepted because of concerns over accountability, the official said. Narayanan Unni told The Hindu that the number of government schoolteachers had not increased in proportion to the population, which could mean a shortage of personnel for the Census. Unni said. Though the category of “any person” existed in the Census Rules, 1990, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI) on Friday broadened the category of people who could be engaged as enumerators.
