Congress slams government over census delay, under-utilisation of Home Ministry funds

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday criticised the government for delayed implementation of the census and underutilisation of the Home Ministry's allocated budget during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha.

Congress leader Ajay Maken, participating in the debate on the working of the Ministry of Home Affairs, pointed out that India's population has increased by approximately 25 per cent since the last census in 2011.

"In 2011, the population was 121 crore, now it is expected to be 146 crore.... For the 2011 census, we started scheduling in 2009 itself. Now, the census is important for us because all our programmes for public welfare are based on it," Maken said.

He emphasised that under the National Food Security Act, which covers about 70 per cent of rural and 50 per cent of urban population, an additional 15 crore people could potentially receive benefits if a new census was conducted.

"You are depriving them of that benefit as you are not conducting the census so far," Maken said, adding that the delay would also hinder other surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Office.

While acknowledging that the Covid pandemic had disrupted census plans, Maken criticised the government for not utilising allocated funds in subsequent years.

He noted that 66 per cent of allocated census funds lapsed in 2022, 85 per cent in 2023, and 58 per cent in 2024.

"There has been no promise of conducting the census at the earliest," he added.

The Congress leader also highlighted concerns regarding border security and police modernisation.

According to Maken, approximately Rs 225 crore remained unutilised under the Border Infrastructure Development Programme for 2023-24.

"About Rs 70,697 crore funds for border infrastructure and police modernisation allocated in the last seven years was returned," he said, noting that about 22.93 per cent, nearly one-fourth, of the budget allocation went unspent.

Maken also raised alarms about security implications, stating: "Drugs, weapons like AK-47 and grenades are illegally entering through the borders and the government has not been able to keep a check on this".

He called for filling vacancies in paramilitary forces and increasing budget allocations for disaster management citing the rising frequency of natural disasters due to global warming.