Hyderabad: AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday said that the Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is compromising the integrity of the national census, citing the exclusion of key data on open defecation and cooking fuel use in the latest National Family Health Survey, and stressed that accurate census data is essential for delimitation, development schemes, and food security.
In a post shared on X, Owaisi said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Census data is essential for delimitation, development schemes, and food security. The Modi government is putting the integrity of the census at risk just so that it's not embarrassed."
"The latest National Family Health Survey has also dropped collecting information on open defecation, use of cooking fuel among other things," Owaisi said.
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The remarks come in response to a news report highlighting discrepancies between fieldwork data and government records. Census enumerators reportedly found variations in claims regarding open defecation-free villages, use of cow dung cakes, kerosene, or crop residue for cooking, and households without electricity, despite having LPG connections. Officials have asked enumerators to revisit and verify these discrepancies, the report said.
