When was the Census work done for the first time in India?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Per the official UPPSC key, the answer is C — 1871. India's first census operation under British rule was carried out in 1871–72, during the viceroyalty of Lord Mayo; it was a non-synchronous count (different areas were enumerated at different times). Many textbooks date this same first effort as '1872', so the year is commonly written as 1871–72 — but the key records 1871 as the year census work was first undertaken.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) No all-India census was conducted in 1861; the first census operation came about a decade later (1871–72).  (b) No organised census of British India was taken in 1850; population figures from that period are estimates, not a census.  (d) 1881 (under Lord Ripon) was the first synchronous census — taken across the country on a single reference date — and the start of the unbroken decennial series; but it was not the first time census work was done. This is the tempting trap: the earlier 1871–72 count came first.

Concept: Census-taking in British India began with a non-synchronous count in 1871–72, during Lord Mayo's viceroyalty. The first synchronous census — enumerating the whole country on a single reference date — was held in 1881 under Lord Ripon, and the census has been conducted every ten years (decennially) ever since. Sources differ on whether to date the first effort as 1871 or 1872; the UPPSC key uses 1871.

State PCS 2023 Q14 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2023 Q14 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer