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Inder Singh

The importance of the number game

Twenty years ago, the US Census Bureau counted 361,544 Indian Americans living in the country. This number is one-sixth of one percent of 226.5 million, the US population in 1980. The Indian community was predominantly comprised of those who migrated from India and adopted the US as their new homeland. Ten years later, as per the 1990 census, the number of Indian Americans rose to 815,447, more than double the previous count. By then, the community also included many born and raised in the United States of America and who called it their motherland.

On April 1, 2000, the US Census Bureau is going to have their decennial count, the first population count of the new millennium. The Bureau will mail census forms to 120 million households in the US in March and expects two out of three households to respond on their own.

The Indian American community has an edge over the general US population: It is highly educated and may need no outside help to fill the census survey form. If they maintain that edge and three out of three respond, we could again more than double our number officially.

I am emphasizing 100 per cent response to the census questionnaire. The census is a numbers game. We can also play it by having a complete and accurate count of our community. All Indian Americans should make a sincere effort to answer the census form and return it before the deadline, April 1. Some communities, though much larger in numbers, have been quicker to use their numerical strength to their advantage.

Latinos and African Americans get very upset when they are not adequately represented in government, university admissions, television or movies. They demand their fare share of the pie. Similarly, our increased number can be effectively considered our community's strength. We can become a force to reckon and avoid misrepresentation of our culture and negative presentation of our professionals in the movies and other media. Furthermore, the answers in the census form will be used in many ways to help our community.

Based on the census count, an estimated $ 180 billion in federal funds will be distributed annually for services and facilities in various communities. At this time, I am simply talking of an accurate count of Indian Americans in the United States. But during the next 10 years, that count could translate into dollars flowing for services to our community. It could also mean more political appointments at the federal, state and city levels for Indian Americans. This is truly our chance to be adequately represented in the fabric of American life.

The census in the United States has been taken every 10 years since 1790. The earliest ones were simple tallies of individuals in each household, for the sole purpose of equal apportionment of House of Representatives seats among the states. But policymakers in the US Congress and elsewhere began adding questions on the census form to gather meaningful data about the population.

The Census Bureau has constantly monitored and evaluated changing societal needs and added new questions or dropped unnecessary ones from the survey form. In 1988, the Census Bureau wanted to eliminate various sub-groups under the group titled 'Asian' on the 1990 census form. A bill was introduced in the US Congress, proposing elimination of the nine check boxes -- Asian Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc. Asian leaders opposed the bill and the bill's defeat became a major rallying point for all Asian groups.

Prior to the 1980 census, there was hardly a national body of Indian Americans to mobilize the community. The National Federation of Indian American Associations was formed in 1980 in New York. Since then, it has held national biennial conventions and numerous regional conventions, using them to mobilize and unite the Indian community spread across the US.

The networking developed through all these conventions had enabled the NFIA connect with the community whenever critical issues of common concern had come up. The unity among the various national Asian groups prevailed and bill never became the law. The Asian people again were the only major group of US population for which statistics by their country of origin were collected and are maintained by the US Census Bureau.

The recognition of Asian Indians as a separate sub-group had given us a sense of pride and we wanted to keep that identity at any cost. This sub-grouping authorized the Census Bureau to collect, maintain and provide data with respect to the number of Indian Americans in the US, their household income, education level, etc.

However, the Bureau ran into some problem with data tabulation with one of the sub-groups, titled 'Other Asian' on the census form. The respondents who checked the box 'Other Asian' were expected to write in their own sub-group. Some of the write-in sub-groups were identified and were counted as part of the known sub-groups; others were left uncounted towards their country of origin, a major loss for an avoidable mistake.

Therefore, it is important that Indian Americans whether born in the US or in another country, whether a US citizen or someone lacking documents, check the box titled 'Asian Indian' under the question, "What is this person's race" on the Census 2000 form.

The role of the NFIA, except regarding the elimination of sub-groups, was to help the Census Bureau track down every Indian American in the US. Indian American activists have, in the past, voiced concerns that our community count was not correctly reported during the 1980 census.

Therefore, in the 1990 census, we tried to ensure that everyone from the community was included and that no one knowingly was left out, not even employees of public agencies, such as the Indian embassy, consular offices, employees of the State Bank of India etc. The Census 2000 form requires you to indicate whether you are a citizen or not. If you are not a citizen, you will be asked no more questions about whether you are in the US with documents or not etc.

The Census Bureau, by law, is required to keep all individual information confidential, so there should be no fear of being reported to immigration or tax authorities. It is imperative that all households answer the census survey form and send it back on time. Since the Census Bureau is determined to have a complete and accurate count of all US households, the census takers will go door-to-door to count residents who fail to send back their form by April 1.

About eight months prior to the 1990 census deadline, the NFIA established a liaison with the Census Bureau and passed a resolution endorsing the Bureau's goal of complete and accurate count of the US population. The NFIA also committed to distribute census promotional material through member associations and disseminate census-related information in the Indian American community and the media.

As we started working more closely with the Census Bureau, we felt we needed more funds to meet the Census Bureau's expectation of our commitment to them.

We wanted the Bureau to advertise in our ethnic media but the officials thought that our numbers did not warrant the expenditure. They agreed to send jointly-signed letter of appeal along with census material to a few thousand community activists and then depended on NFIA and its member associations to distribute the census material in temples and community gatherings throughout the United States.

The NFIA board spearheaded the effort to spread the census message and went beyond their means to help the Census Bureau, which, after the counting was over, honored the NFIA with an award for outstanding contribution in support of the 1990 Decennial Census.

The 1990 census goal was to have a full and accurate count of the US population. But the Census Bureau lacked sufficient federal funds to achieve the desired objective and thus failed to achieve their goal. An estimated 8.4 million people, mostly minorities, were left out. The 1990 census turned out to be less accurate than its predecessor.

Some states, including California, where the undercount was reported, have been hurt badly; they were deprived of billions of dollars of federal funds over the last 10 years. The short count might have also denied some states well-deserved seats in Congress. The reapportionment of state legislative districts could also have been affected.

For Census 2000, the Bureau might like to avoid the pitfalls of the earlier one. It has already budgeted sufficient funds to call the Census 2000 the costliest census ever -- worth $ 6.8 billion. Millions of dollars are being poured into advertisements and billions more in hiring temporary staff for census-related work. A multicultural and multilingual outreach campaign has already been launched. Publicity in the ethnic media, including Indian American, has not been ignored this time and that factor alone could help in tracking more foreign-born residents than at any time during the last many censuses.

The NFIA played a significant role in the 1990 census but it cannot rest on past laurels. During the last 10 years, many Indian American regional, ethnic and professional organizations have gained visibility. They can play a major role in Census 2000. The leaders of all Indian American organizations, national or local, religious or social, political or professional, should band together to increase awareness about the census and boost full participation. They need to provide leadership in addressing the census issue and forecefully voice their concerns, if any, for the betterment of the Indian American community.

We, the community activists, will be failing in our responsibility if we do not educate and encourage members of our community to provide 100 per cent response to the Census questionnaire. We should find and pursue hesitant people and ensure that they stand up to be counted. We must understand that our objective is clearly defined -- a full enumeration of people of Indian origin. Any inaction and timidity in pursuing that objective can haunt us for next 10 years.

The writer is vice-chair, National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, a non-profit organisation, helping Asian seniors. He was the National Federation of Indian Association's president from 1988 to 1992. He was also founder-president of FIA, Southern California.

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