{
 "no": 20,
 "id": "case-20",
 "sk": 20210901,
 "year": 2021,
 "date": "2021 onward",
 "cat": "Data denial",
 "sev": "amber",
 "title": "The missing Census and the suppressed data",
 "stamp": "Unresolved. Data withheld.",
 "human": {
  "v": "<b>1.4 billion</b> citizens governed on a 2011 population base; welfare rolls frozen on stale numbers",
  "est": true
 },
 "cost": {
  "v": "Crores potentially cut out of entitlements pegged to outdated data",
  "est": true
 },
 "what": "The decennial Census, due in 2021, was postponed for years, the first such delay in 150 years, even as awkward datasets on jobs and consumption were delayed or held back.",
 "dodge": "Governing without current numbers is itself a way of dodging accountability, because it hides how many are poor, jobless or excluded. When surveys threw up inconvenient findings, they were buried or rubbished rather than released, so the government could never be measured against its own claims.",
 "ministers": [
  {
   "n": "Amit Shah",
   "r": "Home Minister (Census / RGI)"
  },
  {
   "n": "Union Statistics Ministry",
   "r": "Official data"
  }
 ],
 "pos": "The government cited the pandemic and administrative reasons for the delay.",
 "alt": "Run the Census, release datasets on a fixed public calendar, and wall the statistical system off from political convenience.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "label": "BBC, Census delayed six years, now due 2027",
   "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm26pz5zlmlo",
   "tier": 2,
   "archiveUrl": "http://web.archive.org/web/20260529063725/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm26pz5zlmlo"
  },
  {
   "label": "The Hindu, 2017-18 consumption survey withheld",
   "url": "https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/government-puts-household-spending-report-on-hold/article61611660.ece",
   "tier": 2,
   "archiveUrl": "http://web.archive.org/web/20251027050350/https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/government-puts-household-spending-report-on-hold/article61611660.ece"
  }
 ],
 "caseUrl": "https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-20/"
}