Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India

WHY IN NEWS?

The Registrar General of India (RGI) to remove the column on “place of birth of mother and father” in the proposed National Population Register (NPR) to be updated simultaneously with the Census exercise in April-September.

ABOUT RGI

• Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, founded in 1961 by Government of India Ministry of Home Affairs, for arranging, conducting and analysing the results of the demographic surveys of India including Census of India and Linguistic Survey of India.
• The position of Registrar is usually held by a civil servant holding the rank of Joint Secretary.
• The responsibility of conducting the decennial Census rests with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India under Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
• It may be of historical interest that though the population census of India is a major administrative function, the Census Organisation was set up on an ad-hoc basis for each Census till the 1951 Census.
• The Census Act was enacted in 1948 to provide for the scheme of conducting population census with duties and responsibilities of census officers.
• The Government of India decided in May 1949 to initiate steps for developing systematic collection of statistics on the size of population, its growth, etc., and established an organisation in the Ministry of Home Affairs under Registrar General and ex-Officio Census Commissioner, India.
• This organisation was made responsible for generating data on population statistics including Vital Statistics and Census.
• Later, this office was also entrusted with the responsibility of implementation of Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 in the country.

Prelims Question

Q. The Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) functions under which of the following?
a. MoSPI
b. Ministry of Home Affairs
c. Prime Minister’s Office
d. Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

Answer to the Prelims Question