Fully digital census in India sparks privacy and credibility concerns

The world’s most populous country, India, has launched its first fully digital census, with the government deploying over 3 million people to conduct the population count while also allowing citizens to submit their own data — a move that has sparked concerns over potential political misuse.

The exercise was delayed by several years because of the COVID-19 pandemic and will be the first census since 2011. 

In the initial phase, authorities are focusing on housing and infrastructure, collecting data across 33 parameters, including building materials, access to electricity and clean water, and ownership of assets such as smartphones and vehicles. Each structure will also be geo-tagged to ensure full geographic coverage and a more accurate picture of the country’s infrastructure.

The second phase, scheduled for early next year, will shift to population data, gathering detailed demographic and socio-economic information such as age, education, and occupation. By digitally tracking migration patterns and fertility rates, officials aim to build a comprehensive profile of India’s rapidly evolving population.

Digitization raises stakes for sensitive data

A key feature distinguishing this census from previous ones is the option for citizens to self-report data through an online portal before an enumerator’s visit. At the same time, the census will collect more sensitive information than ever before, including religion, economic status, and migration patterns, raising concerns about how such data could be used or cross-referenced with other national databases.

For the first time since 1931, the census will also include a comprehensive enumeration of castes across all communities.

Critics warn that the data could be vulnerable to political manipulation, as an article by the Deutsche Welle reports. The results, expected in 2027, will influence highly sensitive decisions, including caste-based policies and the redrawing of parliamentary constituencies.

“The risks are not new, but digitization changes their scale. What was once local and contained can now become systemic if safeguards fail,” S Y Quraishi, former chief election commissioner, told the outlet.

“The shift to digital matters but the real issue is credibility, not technology,” Quraishi added. He pointed to the “high political stakes” such as delimitation — the process of determining representation across constituencies — and gender quotas.

The census’ success “will depend less on apps and more on transparency, audits, and whether it is seen as fair and inclusive,” he said.

Quraishi also warned that caste enumeration could reshape quotas and heighten social tensions, while redistricting risks deepening the divide between northern and southern regions over political representation.

“Add privacy concerns and fears of data misuse, and the real test becomes ensuring trust, federal balance, and political acceptance, not just execution,” he added.

Digital divide poses participation challenges

Concerns have also been raised about digital accessibility. Reetika Khera, an economist at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, noted that digital readiness remains uneven.

“For instance, less than half of rural women (above 15 years of age) own mobile phones. Though many can use payment apps, very few are comfortable with other online tasks as less than 1% said they could do net banking,” she told DW.

This, she said, raises questions about who can realistically take part in self-enumeration.

Khera also warned of the potential role of intermediaries, as seen in other digital schemes, where middlemen have sometimes facilitated fraud.

“If such actors begin offering 'self-enumeration services,' they could become a weak link despite legal safeguards under the Census Act,” she added.

Dipa Sinha, a development economist focused on social policy, noted that while this is India’s first fully digital census, the country has prior experience with digital data collection.

Programs such as the National Sample Survey (NSS) have long used similar approaches for large-scale socio-economic data gathering.

“So, in principle, the shift is not problematic. However, the scale is unprecedented, coming after a long delay, which raises fresh concerns,” Sinha told DW.

She added that it remains unclear what safeguards are in place for data protection, privacy, and error correction in such a large, technology-driven operation.

“In a census that collects highly sensitive personal information, the absence of clearly articulated protocols risks undermining confidence,” she said.

By Nazrin Sadigova