census2011 050410

COLOSSAL COUNTINDIA CENSUS 2011

Credits: The Economic Times : 3rd Apr 2010Ramgopal Cancherla

Ramgopal Cancherla > Source - The Economic Times 03/04/10

Overview

India launched the mammoth task of counting and profiling nearly 1.2 bio people according to their gender, religion, education and occupation on Thurs, 1st Apr 2010, an exercise that has never baulked before floods, drought or even wars. Here’s a lowdown on an exercise that could translate into better schools, hospitals and transportation.President Ms Prathiba Patil, our country’s first citizen, was the first to be profiled.


BIGGEST DATABASE

The CENSUS, conducted by the home ministry, is the most credible source of information on demography. It is also the most comprehensive database for governments to parse through for framing policies and a bedrock of knowledge for national & international agencies and businesses. It is also a mirror on the country’s progress in the past decade through its study on government schemes.


VITAL STATS Rs 2,209 crore

costs to the government 12,000 tonnes

of paper to be used 64 crore

# of census forms 50 lac #

of instruction manuals

2.5 mio # of census officials

7,000 # of towns they will visit

600,000 # of villages they will visit


CENSUS 2011

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The census will create a National Population Register(NPR), a comprehensive identity database.

The NPR in turn will create a biometric national database where every person aged over 15 will be photographed and fingerprinted.

It will for the first time also attempt to gather information on the use of internet, ownership of computers & mobiles, and availability of drinking water & toilets in households.


CENSUS 2011

HIGH SPOTS

Population 2008: 1,139,965,000 15th headcount since 1872 House listing & housing census between Apr & July

2010 Population Enumeration from Feb 09-28, 2011 Forms & instruction manuals in 16 & 18 languages

respectively Entire exercise would be completed by March 5, 2011 Results in mid-2011


HERCULEAN PROCESS - A

Census enumerators will visit each household and gather information on forms, which will be sent to data processing centers in 15 cities. Data processing will be done using a software called Intelligent Character Recognition Software (ICR), which will scan the forms at high speed and extract data automatically.


HERCULEAN PROCESS - B

The NPR list will be sent to the Unique Identity Authority of India for eliminating duplicates and issuing Unique ID Numbers for every person. The trimmed database along with the UID number will be sent to the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner to form the National Population Register. The first NPR cards would roll out by 2011 end.


WHOLE STORYof 2 forms given in each household - A

The first form relates to the house listing & housing census. Will have 35 questions on building material, use of houses, drinking water, availability and type of latrines, electricity, possession of assets etc.


WHOLE STORYof 2 forms given in each household - B

The second form relates to the National Population Register and will outline name, gender, date of birth, place of birth, marital status, name of father, name of mother, name of spouse, present address, permanent address, occupation, nationality, educational qualification and relationship to head of family.


COMPULSORY EXERCISE A person who fails to cooperate can be fined or

punished. Information is confidential, not accessible even to

courts. Every household will be given an

acknowledgement slip at the time of enumeration. More info can be regularly accessed on

http://www.censusindia.gov.in

census2011 050410

Economy & Finance