‘Data must be credible & transparent…otherwise it aids politics more than policy…internal migration is a good example of this’

6 days ago 5

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A leading demographer warns that India’s census, quotas and migrant policies risk being shaped by half-truths and hidden numbers — and argues why credible, transparent data is the only safeguard against politics overwhelming policy

Census

categories on religion are mutually exclusive – is this a problem? Can

EWS

quotas be implemented without knowing relevant numbers? What’ll the drive against ‘illegals’ do to internal migration? Should govt statistical authorities be answerable to

Parliament

? These and other questions, many of them making current headlines, are the forte of population scientist and demographer

Ram B Bhagat

, author of Population & the Political Imagination: Census, Register & Citizenship in India. He’s former professor,

International Institute for Population Sciences

. Excerpts of a wide-ranging conversation with TOI.
Census work has begun. First thoughts?

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