When was the Census work done for the first time in India?
- (a)In the year 1861
- (b)In the year 1850
- (c)In the year 1871
- (d)In the year 1881
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.
- (a)In the year 1861 — No all-India census was conducted in 1861; the first census operation came about a decade later (1871–72).
- (b)In the year 1850 — No organised census of British India was taken in 1850; population figures from that period are estimates, not a census.
- (d)In the year 1881 — 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.
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.
The trap is 1881: students remember it as the 'first regular/synchronous decennial census' and pick it. But the question asks when census work was first done — that was the 1871–72 exercise, which the key marks as 1871. Note the genuine textbook ambiguity between 1871 and 1872 for this first, non-synchronous count.
- First (non-synchronous) census operation in India: 1871–72, under Viceroy Lord Mayo (the key marks 1871).
- First synchronous census across India: 1881, under Lord Ripon.
- The decennial (ten-yearly) census series has run continuously since 1881.
- Census is a Union subject (Entry 69, Union List); conducted by the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India.
- Picking 1881 (first synchronous/decennial census) instead of the first census work (1871–72)
- Conflating the non-synchronous 1871–72 count with the synchronous 1881 census
Asked as 'first census year' or 'first synchronous/regular census'; distinguish 1871–72 (first attempt, Mayo) from 1881 (first synchronous, Ripon — start of the decennial series).
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The first synchronous census in India was conducted in 1881 under which Viceroy?
- (a)Lord Mayo
- (b)Lord Ripon
- (c)Lord Curzon
- (d)Lord Dufferin
Answer(b) Lord Ripon — 1881 began the unbroken decennial census series.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In the Indian Constitution, 'Census' is a subject of the:
- (a)State List
- (b)Concurrent List
- (c)Union List
- (d)Residuary powers
Answer(c) Union List — Entry 69.