Census 2021: Councillors urge people to correctly identify ethnicity so local needs can be met

Local councillors are encouraging people to fill in the 2021 census with their correct ethnicity and spoken languages to ensure needs are being met.

Council leader Allen Brett has urged everyone to identify their ethnicity and language, as the council uses both local data and national data from the census to help form policies and services.

He said: “Rochdale has a diverse population. We aim to serve all our residents equally. As well as local data, we use national data from the census to form policies and design our services and make sure our populations’ cultural and linguistic needs are met.

“I urge you to write your proper language and correct ethnicity. If you’re Kashmiri, tick other and write Kashmiri as your ethnicity and Pahari as your language.”

 

 

Kingsway ward councillor Shakil Ahmed has also spoken of his disappointment at the lack of representation for the Kashmiri population. Whilst Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese tick boxes are available for Asian or British Asians, there is no box for the Kashmiri diaspora, which is estimated to be the largest South Asian community in the Rochdale borough.

Councillor Ahmed said: “Unfortunately the Census 2021 does not include a box in the ethnic group for Kashmiris so it is important that we tick ‘any other Asian background’ and write in ‘Kashmiri’.

“If we want better representation, then we need better recognition; this census is our opportunity to do so. In order to get to representation, we need identification.

“Rochdale has a large population of Kashmiris. I ask all the Kashmiri community to tick the ‘other’ box and identify themselves so that the council can work out the population and add services through this. This is the only way the needs of the Kashmiri community can be served.”

The Local Democracy reporting service has previously reported on how the size of Rochdale’s Kashmiri population has been massively underestimated, leaving thousands ‘unknown and unseen.’
 

Read more: Underestimate of Rochdale’s Kashmiri population has left it ‘unknown and unseen’ by council and other authoritiesPublished: 31 January 2020

Research by the University of Manchester puts the borough’s Kashmiri population at nearly 15,000 – while the 2011 census put the number of Kashmiri adults at just 1,026.

The study finds that the lack of a ‘Kashmiri’ category in surveys used by the council, government and other public bodies has led to the specific issues affecting the community being almost entirely overlooked.

The analysis suggests that two-thirds of the identified Pakistani community in Rochdale are actually of Kashmiri heritage – and therefore the largest South Asian community in the borough. 

And it says that the poor awareness of Kashmiris among public services is mainly because they are not properly included in ethnic monitoring systems – meaning they remain an ‘unknown and unseen’ community.

The root of Kashmiri’s marginalisation appears to have its origin in the unequal relationship between the Pakistan and Azad (free) Kashmir – where almost all Kashmiris in Rochdale come from. 

As those from ‘Azad’ Kashmir travelled on Pakistani passports, they were classified as Pakistanis in the British ethnic monitoring structures.

This had the effect of turning Kashmiris into a silent or silenced majority within the Pakistani ethnic minority in Britain.

Pahari – the mother tongue of Rochdale Kashmiris – is not recognised on a par with other ‘community languages’ used by public bodies.

The University of Manchester report found that the borough’s Kashmiri community suffers ‘significantly higher’ rates of unemployment than other south Asian minorities and lags behind in terms of educational attainment.

The 2021 census - the nationwide survey of housing and the population – will be the first to be run predominantly online, having been carried out every 10 years since 1801 (with the exception of 1941, when Britain was at war with Nazi Germany).
 

Read more: Time to fill in your censusPublished: 15 March 2021

The census will include questions about your sex, age, work, health, education, household size and ethnicity. Completing the census is also a legal requirement and anyone who does not complete it, or provides false information, could be fined up to £1,000.

Results will be available within 12 months, although personal records will be locked away for 100 years and kept safe for future generations.

The Office for National Statistics runs the census in England and Wales and is independent from government. Your details are protected by law and information published is always anonymous.

Additional reporting: Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporting Service