R. B. Bhagat,

Population and the Political Imagination: Census, Register and Citizenship in India,

Routledge, India, 2024, 166 pp

Shivank Singh

 

R. B. Bhagat’s book, Population and the Political Imagination – Census, Register and Citizenship in India, is not only a discursive account of the politics of population in India but also situated in a time where the issue has assumed critical importance. It vitalises population and citizenship as conceptual categories in compelling ways. By treating the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA 2019) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) as focal points, the book provides an insightful account of the relationships between religion, ethnicity, caste, and class and Indian citizenship. In examining this relationship, Bhagat employs political imagination as a theoretical framework that informs the processes and strategies for enumeration and classification.