Introduction

We have so far analysed various errors in Jammu and Kashmir's (J&K) census and discussed their larger political context. We showed that some of the errors cannot be accounted for by conventional demographic and non-demographic explanations and are likely to be driven by politically motivated intervention. This chapter examines the legal and administrative contexts of data collection to understand the checks and balances in the process of enumeration. This is mostly ignored in academic as well as governmental discussions on data quality. We will discuss the constraints that circumscribe data collection exercises because of which the punitive provisions of law have failed to prevent the manipulation of the census in J&K and other states.

The chapter first introduces the legal framework determined by the Census Act, 1948, and the Census Rules, 1990, and discusses the administrative machinery that is mobilised to conduct the census. It then explains why erring respondents and enumerators cannot be punished for deliberate errors and argues that it is neither desirable nor practical to provide security to enumerators. We will argue that the punitive measures of the Census Act, 1948, serve as a hollow threat because governments are unwilling to strain their relationship with people and public servants for conducting a once-a-decade exercise. As a result, punitive measures are rarely enforced even though the fines are mild. This is also true of several other common-law countries. The chapter then discusses the implications of the absence of provisions in the Census Act, 1948, and the Census Rules, 1990, for the correction of data. So not only is the Office of the Registrar General of India (ORGI) ill-equipped to deal with mass subversion of the exercise, but it is also unable to correct the data afterwards. The decline in the availability and quality of metadata provided by the ORGI has, however, meant that users do not have adequate background information to assess the quality of census data.

The Census Act, 1948

In colonial India, a temporary legislation was introduced before every decennial census that lapsed after the completion of the exercise (Maheshwari 1996: 137–39; see also S. Subramanian 1960: 112).