A question of survival: Why Census 2027 must count Nomadic and Denotified Tribes separately

Census 2027 is crucial to the Nomadic and Denotified Tribes whose existence, culture, livelihood and identities are deeply connected to the fundamental right of being counted.

Community activists and leaders have repeatedly demanded that Nomadic and Denotified Tribes be counted separately in the Census. But these demands have been ignored even though the Census is much more than just counting people – it is fundamental to constitutional justice, policy-making and the equitable distribution of resources.

As someone from the Ghisadi Gadiya Lohar Nomadic and Denotified Tribe community, I have closely seen the effects of relentless migration, prejudice from settled populations, homelessness, the utter lack of safety and social security, little schooling and healthcare access and negligible democratic participation.

In almost all states, these communities are at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, below the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. There is no standard identity across the country: our caste identity keeps changing from state to state because there is no uniform counting of our people at the national level.

The last time the population of the Nomadic and Denotified Tribes was counted separately was in the caste-based Census conducted by the British administration in 1931. As India nears 80 years of independence, one must ask why there has never been an independent enumeration of...

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