The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has raised many serious questions within a few hours of the notification of Census issued by the Centre on Monday. Expressing the threat of data hacking, the party has said that this census will not be completed before the 2029 general elections. It also alleged that this is a political experiment to put the Nari Shakti Vandan Act on hold.
In a press conference here on Monday, JMM general secretary cum Spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya called the notification issued by the Home Ministry of the Central Government misleading. He said that the announcement of two different dates regarding the census makes it clear that this process will not be completed before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. He said that the proposed census will be person-based, which will include demographic information as well as caste details and it will be completely digital. The government will record this data in the National Population Register (NPR).
Bhattacharya raised the question that it has not been made clear in the notification issued today which digital format will be used for the census. He termed it a 'big game' and alleged that a conspiracy is being hatched to fragment the castes through NPR. He said that this is an attempt at data hacking at the government level, which is a very sensitive and serious subject. If the population data is hacked, it can become a big threat to the country.
Bhattacharya also asked the central government whether there will be a column of 'Sarna Dharma Code' in the form of caste census to be held in Jharkhand from March 2027. He said that the format of the census should be made public in advance, so that people can give their information correctly. Otherwise, the officials who come during the digital census will fill anything and go away and the common man will not have any information about it.
Notably, the Central government has issued a notification for the census. With this, the way has been cleared for the first caste census since independence. Now caste census will be conducted across the country with a reference date of March 2027. However, five months before this, in October 2026, this process will be completed in the hill states.
