Maharashtra Govt Urges Citizens Not To Believe Census Misinformation
A message circulating widely on social media claims that during the upcoming Census 2027 exercise in Maharashtra, citizens should state only “Marathi” as the language they know while registering, even if they are familiar with other languages.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has issued a fact-check warning against a misleading social media message linked to Census 2027 and the Marathi language. The viral post falsely claims that Marathi speakers must mention only Marathi during registration, warning that listing Hindi or English could reduce the official count of Marathi speakers and affect budgetary allocations. The government has clarified that the message is false and urged citizens to rely only on official census sources for information.
A message circulating widely on social media claims that during the upcoming Census 2027 exercise in Maharashtra, citizens should state only “Marathi” as the language they know while registering, even if they are familiar with other languages. According to the viral post, mentioning Hindi or English alongside Marathi would classify individuals as bilingual, thereby reducing the overall number of Marathi speakers in the state and impacting allocations linked to linguistic demographics.
The post, written in Marathi, states that the long-delayed Census exercise has begun in Maharashtra in both online and offline modes and urges Marathi-speaking citizens to mention only Marathi while filling in language details. It further claims that the issue is linked not only to language preservation but also to economic considerations, as budgetary allocations are allegedly determined according to the population of specific linguistic groups.
“Even if you know other languages, mentioning only Marathi will ensure that you are counted as a Marathi speaker,” the message says, while appealing to people to circulate it widely among Marathi-speaking communities.
However, the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR), the Maharashtra government’s official publicity and communication department, has labelled the message as “fake.”
In a post on X, the DGIPR said: “The message circulating on social media regarding the Marathi language in connection with #Census2027 is false, and people are advised not to believe such misinformation.”
The department also advised citizens to verify Census-related information only through official portals, including censusindia.gov.in and se.census.gov.in.