Karnataka - Bangalore

Countdown begins for the biggest headcount

BANGALORE: The countdown to India’s biggest-ever headcount, Census 2011, has started. Unlike in the past, questions pertaining to age at last birthday, number of married couples having independent rooms for sleeping, and travel time to work place would no longer be asked.

As if to acknowledge the country’s emergence as a key player in the knowledge sector and the fast increasing growth of mobile telephony, the Census enumerators will elicit information on households owning computers and cell phones for the first time. Information on source of drinking water and availability of safe drinking water will be collected.

The Indian Census is the largest single source of a variety of statistical information on different characteristics of the people in the country. To scholars and researchers in demography, economics, anthropology, sociology, statistics and many other disciplines, the Indian Census, which has a history of over 130 years, has been a fascinating source of data.

All those born before March 1 of 2011 will be included in the Census-2011. The data will be collected in two phases. The first phase deals with amenities such as drinking water, power, drainage and so on while the second phase covers data pertaining to individuals.

The office of the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, New Delhi, which has commenced preparations for conducting 2011 Census operations, has drafted a new set of questionnaire for the enumerators and workshops are being held in different States to fine-tune the mammoth exercise.

Registrar-General and Census Commissioner Devender Kumar Sikri, who made a presentation on “Census 2011” at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, disclosed that preparations were in full swing.

Over two million personnel will be involved in collecting census data from all corners of the country.

Responding to the Census Commissioner’s move to ask the exact date of birth of individuals instead of the earlier pattern of ascertaining the age at the last birthday, many experts, who participated in the workshop, felt the change was not advisable as a high percentage of people might not know their actual date of birth because of illiteracy. Interestingly, a survey conducted stated that only 50 per cent of the respondents were able to provide the correct date of birth, the Commissioner said.

With migration from rural areas to urban areas being very high, the Indian Census is aiming to study the situation by fixing 12 months as normal residency and collect data on “normal residency” for stay at a place for the last 12 months.

Experts suggested the need to drop questions on place of birth, disability and instead collect data on economic activity. They felt proper sampling techniques should be followed in the case of household sampling.

Indian Census is proposed to prepare the National Population Register along with the 2011 Census using a separate schedule which contains information on name, sex, relationship to head, marital status, date of birth, name of the father, mother or spouse, place of birth, activity or education, highest educational level and present and permanent residential address.

M.K. Premi, census expert, said data on disabled persons reported in 2001 Census was inaccurate. The number of disabled persons reported in the census was less than the actual number. He strongly demanded dropping the question on disabled persons in the country.

K. Srinivasan, expert, said identification of below poverty line families was a major problem. The States had adopted different criteria for identifying BPL families. A family which owned a high-end luxury car had been included in BPL category in Uttar Pradesh, he said.

Incidentally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its election manifesto for the 2008 Assembly polls, had promised to redraw the BPL norm and advocated the need to raise the annual income limit to Rs. 35,000. K.S. Natarajan, former Deputy Registrar-General of India Census, wanted place of birth introduced in 1981 to be dropped as it involved enormous work.

On the question of caste-wise data, Mr. Sikri said the Government was against providing caste colour to Indian Census. “We stopped collecting the caste-based data since 1951,” he said.

On account of the Constitutional requirement, the census authorities had been collecting data of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, Mr. Sikri said pointing out that the former Prime Minister late Jawaharlal Nehru and the former Home Minister late Vallabhbai Patel opposed collection of census data of various castes.

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