बेबाक · Editorial
ਮਰਦਮਸ਼ੁਮਾਰੀ 2027 ਅਤੇ ਰੋਜ਼ਾਨਾ ਗਣਤੰਤਰਃ ਨਾਗਰਿਕਾਂ ਦੀ ਗਿਣਤੀ, ਫਿਰ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਪਹੁੰਚਾਉਣਾ
ਜਿਵੇਂ ਹੀ ਕੇਰਲ ਵਿੱਚ ਮਰਦਮਸ਼ੁਮਾਰੀ 2027 ਦੀ ਸਵੈ-ਗਿਣਤੀ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਹੁੰਦੀ ਹੈ, ਪ੍ਰੀਖਿਆ ਇਹ ਹੁੰਦੀ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕੀ ਹਰੇਕ ਨਾਗਰਿਕ ਦੀ ਗਿਣਤੀ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ਹਰੇਕ ਨੂੰ ਨੁਮਾਇੰਦਗੀ, ਭਲਾਈ ਅਤੇ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਪ੍ਰਦਾਨ ਕਰਦੀ ਹੈ।
ਗਿਣਤੀ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਹੋ ਗਈ।
ਕੇਰਲ ਵਿੱਚ ਮਰਦਮਸ਼ੁਮਾਰੀ 2027 ਦੀ ਸਵੈ-ਗਿਣਤੀ 16 ਜੂਨ ਨੂੰ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਹੋਵੇਗੀ, ਜੋ 30 ਜੂਨ ਤੱਕ ਚੱਲੇਗੀ।
Why a count is power
From enumeration flows representation. The record carries reported indications that the Union government might try to reintroduce legislation to expand the Lok Sabha from 543 to 815 seats and begin delimitation — the redrawing of constituencies — on the basis of the 2011 decennial census. The case for such an exercise is that representation must reflect population and the changing scale of democracy. The caution is that numbers also decide who is seen, and how much each citizen's vote weighs. Here lies a genuine federal tension: delimitation on raw population could reward States that did least to stabilise their numbers and penalise those that invested most in schools and clinics. A census is therefore never merely a spreadsheet; it is the arithmetic of representation itself. Get the count wrong, or use it without federal trust, and every later sum is compromised.
The case for delivery
Consider the welfare cluster on its strongest terms. Kerala's Priyadarshini scheme now offers free travel on State-run KSRTC buses to women and transgender persons, with its inaugural Thampanoor-to-Secretariat journey operated by a women crew. Mobility is income, safety and dignity, and the State has put real buses behind the promise. In Telangana, a government breakfast programme begins its first phase in 45 schools of Hyderabad district, launched at Raj Bhavan Government School; a fed child learns better, and the meal is a measurable transfer to poorer households. Judged by outcomes rather than slogans, this is the state showing up in the ordinary morning of an ordinary citizen — the household for whom a free fare or a school breakfast is real money. That is governance worth defending.
The case for caution
Now the harder truth the same record holds. Kerala has reported a fourth Shigella death — a seven-year-old — with 138 confirmed cases by June 14 and the highest number recorded in Kozhikode: a public-health warning that no bus subsidy redeems. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has launched a monsoon drive, running till June 25, to clear legacy waste including municipal solid waste, construction and demolition waste, green waste and rain-driven silt from roads. And the Kerala High Court has refused to interfere in a contempt plea involving the cashew import matter, directing Industries Secretary A.P.M. Mohammad Hanish to appear in person on June 19. Welfare without public health, basic sanitation and accountable administration is incomplete.
The considered verdict
The honest verdict is neither applause nor contempt, but a demand for coherence. A republic that can stand up a 15-day self-enumeration portal, run an inaugural women-crewed bus and begin feeding children in 45 schools plainly has administrative capacity. The same republic is also confronting fatal Shigella cases, monsoon waste clearance and court-mandated accountability. Capacity is not the whole problem; priority and follow-through are. Counting citizens means little if the state does not then act on what it counts — the clinic in the district with the most cases, the school covered by a meal programme, the constituency seeking fair weight. The census should open an account, not furnish a photograph filed away until the next decade. What is measured must become what gets mended.
The way forward
Make the count translate into a delivery dividend. First, publish enumeration findings in usable local form, so a Shigella cluster in Kozhikode or a school-meal need is visible and fundable in time. Second, settle delimitation through a transparent, consultative formula that balances population, representation and federal trust, without punishing States for lowering birth rates and building clinics. Third, hold administration to the standard the Kerala High Court is setting — appear, account, deliver — and publish execution dashboards for census access, KSRTC reliability, school meals and ward-wise waste clearance. And learn from Dimapur, where the Chang Khulei Setshang and the Ao Senden jointly condemned the alleged sexual assault of a minor girl and cautioned against attempts to incite tribal or communal tensions. To count every citizen as equally Indian, in every faith and tongue, is the census's truest meaning.
ਇੱਕ ਮਰਦਮਸ਼ੁਮਾਰੀ ਇੱਕ ਵਾਅਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਹਰੇਕ ਨਾਗਰਿਕ ਨੂੰ ਬਰਾਬਰ ਗਿਣਿਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ; ਮੁਫ਼ਤ ਬੱਸ, ਸਕੂਲ ਦਾ ਬ੍ਰੇਕਫਾਸਟ ਅਤੇ ਜਨਤਕ-ਸਿਹਤ ਵਾਰਡ ਉਹ ਹਨ ਜਿੱਥੇ ਇਹ ਵਾਅਦਾ ਨਿਭਾਇਆ ਜਾਂ ਤੋਡ਼ਿਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ।
At stake is whether Census 2027 strengthens equal representation, public health, welfare delivery and dignity under Articles 14, 21, 41 and 47.
Census-to-Delivery Accountability Bill
Parliament should enact a Census-to-Delivery Accountability Bill requiring every use of census data for delimitation, welfare targeting or public-health planning to be accompanied by a public Federal Impact and Equality Statement. Within a fixed deadline after Census 2027 data is finalised, the Union, States and urban local bodies should publish district-wise delivery plans on mobility support, school meals, outbreak response and monsoon sanitation, with RTI-disclosable budgets, timelines and grievance officers.
ਤੁਹਾਡੇ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨਕ ਅਧਿਕਾਰ
ਇਸ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨ ਕੀ ਗਰੰਟੀ ਦਿੰਦਾ ਹੈNo person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except by a fair, just and reasonable procedure established by law — read by the courts to include dignity, privacy, health, a clean environment and livelihood.
Fundamental RightThe State shall regard raising the level of nutrition and public health as among its primary duties.
Directive PrincipleThe State shall, within its capacity, secure the right to work, education and public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement.
Directive PrincipleThe State shall not deny any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws. Like must be treated alike; the law cannot be arbitrary.
Fundamental RightWhat this editorial rests on
Drawn from our live multi-newsroom feed — read the reporting at source.
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