New Delhi: The Constitutional Conduct Group which is made up for former civil servants has written to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner voicing concerns about the delayed 2027 Census.While acknowledging the COVID-19 disruption, the signatories have sought transparency, warning against apprehension that it aligns with constituency delimitation before the 2029 elections.The former IAS and other services’ officers have urged adherence to UN guidelines, stressed data quality over technological fixes, and recommended streamlining questions. The group has called for clarity on caste enumeration, proper classification of OBCs and tribes, and careful handling of sensitive religious data.The full letter is below. §CCG LETTER TO THE REGISTRAR GENERALAND CENSUS COMMISSIONER OF INDIA23 February 2026ToShri Mritunjay Kumar NarayanRegistrar General and Census Commissioner of IndiaNew DelhiDear Shri Narayan,We are members of the Constitutional Conduct Group, a collective of former civil servants belonging to the All-India Services and the Central Services. Our group, which has no political affiliation, is committed to the promotion of the foundational values of our Republic and the observance of norms of Constitutional conduct.We wish to bring to your attention some aspects of the 2027 Census currently under way. The Decennial Census exercise was carried out in independent India every ten years from 1951 to 2011. While we can understand that the Census could not be carried out in 2021 because of the COVID pandemic, we fail to comprehend why the Census could not have been carried out by 2023, as was done in 143 other countries. The reasons for delaying the Census by six years instead of two to three years have not been made public. This lack of transparency gives rise to unnecessary apprehensions in the public mind that the Census is being conducted at this juncture to enable the completion of the exercise of delimitation of constituencies in 2027-28, in time for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. We would certainly hope that no such extraneous considerations have influenced the timing of the 2027 Census.We sincerely expect that the Census exercise will be unexceptionable and in conformity with the United Nations guidelines laid down in the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses (Revision 4 March 2025), to which India is a signatory. We understand that the main reasons for the delay in the processing and release of the data of past Censuses were: (a) the need for coding of descriptive answers to several questions; and (b) the lack of sufficient expertise within the Census Commissioner’s office to check the quality of data. Providing mobile phones to code everything at field level, where the enumerator is required to select the correct option from a dropdown menu, does not allow for correction of errors in the recorded code. Past experience, especially in the 2001 and 2011 Censuses, has shown that mere technological advance in computing facilities does not necessarily speed up release of data. There is need to be open to the possibilities of errors, with effective measures being put in place to ensure data quality. Dropping questions on data items that are not required, cannot be collected or where alternate sources of data are available would help in streamlining the data collection process, reducing respondent fatigue and resulting in better quality data. For example, the questions on children born/surviving are better collected in the National Family Health Surveys.Other Backward Classes (OBC) have not been specifically classified in the Census. The methodology for caste enumeration is yet to be announced. While one option could be to compile a list of castes for people to select from (as was done in the Bihar caste survey), we feel the better option is to leave the field open in the Census form, as was done in the 2011 Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC). The methodology of surveying and enumerating languages could be used for condensing the Census data. However, this would require the government to keep the data open for scrutiny by scholars and involve institutions like the Anthropological Survey of India. The process can begin with collecting information on the 1369 mother tongue languages listed in the 2011 Census. An institution like the ASI could then certify the caste based on markers of common language, ancestry, lifestyle, relatives, marriages and kinship bonds. Data on tribes were being collected in past Censuses only from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population. If all tribes, other than those in the ST list, are classified and recorded, a long existing injustice to the Denotified Tribe communities, which account for more than 100 million people, would be rectified. The issue of religion is, and has been in the past, a sensitive area for the Census. At a time when political leaders openly express their opposition to the inclusion of so-called “Bangladeshi Muslims” in the electoral rolls, care must be taken to ensure that the Census fully records the population of various minority groups in the country, covering religion, caste and tribe. As former civil servants, many of us have been, during our careers, involved in the Census exercises at district, state and national levels. We are sure that you will exercise the highest level of professional competence in ensuring that the upcoming Census meets the threefold goals of accuracy, transparency and accessibility.We wish the Census exercise all success. SATYAMEVA JAYATEYours sincerely,Constitutional Conduct GroupAnand ArniRAS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoIAruna BagcheeIAS (Retd.)Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoIG. BalachandhranIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West BengalVappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoIGopalan Balagopal IAS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West BengalChandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Coal, GoISushant BaligaEngineering Services (Retd.)Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoIRana BanerjiRAS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoISharad BeharIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya PradeshAurobindo BeheraIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of OdishaPradip Bhattacharya IAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West BengalNutan Guha BiswasIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of DelhiMeeran C Borwankar IPS (Retd.)Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoIRavi BudhirajaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoIManeshwar Singh ChahalIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Secretary, Home, Govt. of PunjabR. ChandramohanIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of DelhiRanjan ChatterjeeIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Meghalaya & former Expert Member, National Green TribunalKalyani Chaudhuri IAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West BengalGurjit Singh CheemaIAS (Retd.)Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of PunjabF.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & KashmirAnna Dani IAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of MaharashtraVibha Puri Das IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoIP.R. DasguptaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoIM.G. DevasahayamIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Govt. of HaryanaKiran DhingraIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoISushil Dubey IFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to SwedenA.S. DulatIPS (Retd.)Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoISuresh K. GoelIFS (Retd.)Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoIS.K. GuhaIAS (Retd.)Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoIH.S. GujralIFoS (Retd.)Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of PunjabMeena GuptaIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoIRavi Vira Gupta IAS (Retd.)Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of IndiaWajahat Habibullah IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information CommissionerSajjad Hassan IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Govt. of ManipurRasheda HussainIRS (Retd.)Former Director General, National Academy of Customs, Excise & NarcoticsSiraj HussainIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoIKamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoINajeeb JungIAS (Retd.)Former Lieutenant Governor, DelhiSudhir KumarIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Central Administrative TribunalSubodh LalIPoS (Resigned)Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoIAshok LavasaIAS (Retd.)Former Election CommissionerDinesh MalhotraIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Govt. of Himachal PradeshP.M.S. Malik IFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoIHarsh Mander IAS (Retd.)Govt. of Madhya PradeshAmitabh MathurIPS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoIL.L. MehrotraIFS (Retd.)Former Special Envoy to the Prime Minister and former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, GoIAditi MehtaIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of RajasthanSatya Narayan MohantyIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary General, National Human Rights CommissionSudhansu MohantyIDAS (Retd.)Former Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, GoIJugal MohapatraIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoIRuchira MukerjeeIP&TAFS (Retd.)Former Advisor (Finance), Telecom Commission, GoIAnup MukerjiIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of BiharDeb Mukharji IFS (Retd.)Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to NepalJayashree MukherjeeIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of MaharashtraGautam MukhopadhayaIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to MyanmarRamesh NarayanaswamiIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of DelhiSurendra NathIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya PradeshP. Joy OommenIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of ChhattisgarhAmitabha Pande IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoIAlok Perti IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoIG.K. PillaiIAS (Retd.)Former Home Secretary, GoIRajesh PrasadIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to the NetherlandsT.R. Raghunandan IAS (Retd.)Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoIK. RaghunathIFS (Retd.)Former Foreign Secretary, GoIN.K. Raghupathy IAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoIV.P. RajaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory CommissionV. RamaniIAS (Retd.)Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of MaharashtraM. RameshkumarIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative TribunalMadhukumar Reddy A. IRTS (Retd.)Former Principal Executive Director, Railway Board, GoISatwant Reddy IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoIVijaya Latha ReddyIFS (Retd.)Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoIJulio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police, Govt. of PunjabManabendra N. Roy IAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West BengalA.K. SamantaIPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West BengalDeepak SananIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal PradeshN.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoIAbhijit SenguptaIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoIAftab Seth IFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to JapanAruna SharmaIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Steel, GoIAshok Kumar SharmaIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Finland and EstoniaNavrekha Sharma IFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to IndonesiaRaju Sharma IAS (Retd.)Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar PradeshAvay ShuklaIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal PradeshMukteshwar SinghIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service CommissionTara Ajai SinghIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of KarnatakaPrakriti SrivastavaIFoS (Retd.)Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala Anup ThakurIAS (Retd.)Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal CommissionP.S.S. ThomasIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary General, National Human Rights CommissionGeetha ThoopalIRAS (Retd.)Former General Manager, Metro Railway, KolkataAshok VajpeyiIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi