<P> The 1865 census of the North - West Provinces is sometimes referred to as the first proper census in India . By 1872 , the only administrative area of British India where there had not been an attempt to conduct a region - wide enumeration was Bengal Province . The various limited exercises conducted prior to 1869 have been described as `` fragmentary , hardly systematic and lack ( ing in ) any uniformity '' . In 1872 , the British Raj authorities concluded the first `` all - India census . '' However , S.C. Srivastava says that it did not in fact cover all of the country and that it was asynchronous , being conducted between 1867 and 1872 after an initial 1856 decision to introduce decennial enumerations from 1861 was disrupted by the 1857 Rebellion . The first synchronous decennial census was conducted in 1881 and has continued thus since , although the 1941 exercise was severely curtailed and very little of its data was published due to World War II . The 1931 census is often considered be the last British - administered census . The report of the 1881 census comprised three volumes ; that of 1931 comprised 28 . </P>
<P> The 1865 census of the North - West Provinces is sometimes referred to as the first proper census in India . By 1872 , the only administrative area of British India where there had not been an attempt to conduct a region - wide enumeration was Bengal Province . The various limited exercises conducted prior to 1869 have been described as `` fragmentary , hardly systematic and lack ( ing in ) any uniformity '' . In 1872 , the British Raj authorities concluded the first `` all - India census . '' However , S.C. Srivastava says that it did not in fact cover all of the country and that it was asynchronous , being conducted between 1867 and 1872 after an initial 1856 decision to introduce decennial enumerations from 1861 was disrupted by the 1857 Rebellion . The first synchronous decennial census was conducted in 1881 and has continued thus since , although the 1941 exercise was severely curtailed and very little of its data was published due to World War II . The 1931 census is often considered be the last British - administered census . The report of the 1881 census comprised three volumes ; that of 1931 comprised 28 . </P>
first census in india was conducted under the rule of
first census in india was conducted under the rule of
the British Raj
the British Raj