Census Act, 1948 UPSC relevant
The Census Act, 1948 is the statute under which every Indian census is conducted (census is a Union subject, entry 69 of the Union List).
Key provisions: Section 3 empowers the Central Government to declare its intention to take a census by gazette notification (done for Census 2027 on June 16, 2025); Section 4 provides for appointing the Census Commissioner and census officers, who are deemed public servants; Section 8 obliges every person to answer census questions truthfully to the best of their knowledge or belief; Section 10 covers schedules; Section 11 makes refusal to answer or giving false answers an offence, with fines up to Rs 1,000; Section 15 makes individual records confidential and inadmissible in evidence.
The Census Rules, 1990 supply the operational detail. Participation in Census 2027 is therefore legally mandatory.