New Delhi: The vital part of Census 2011 --
the population enumeration -- will be conducted across the
country simultaneously between February 9 and 28.
Registrar-General and Census Commissioner C Chandramouli
today said the biggest-ever census attempted in the history of
mankind enumerating the country`s 1.2 billion population will
be conducted across 35 states and Union Territories.
During the massive exercise, all citizens of the country
will be counted classifying various factors and according to
their gender, religion, occupation and education.
Enumerators for the first time will collect information
like ownership of mobile phones, computers, internet, having
treated or untreated drinking water facility and usage of
banking services. They will also seek additional information
for the creation of National Population Register (NPR).
However, information about caste will not be collected in
this phase but through a separate phase to be conducted
between June and September 2011.
The Rs 2,200 crore exercise will cover all citizens
living in 7,742 towns and six lakh villages in 640 districts
of India. With the expenditure of just Rs 18.33 for each
person, this census is also being considered as the most
cost-effective.
"To carry out this massive exercise more than 2.5 million
people will be engaged. The fact that many countries in the
world do not have a population equal to the number of
officials that conduct the Indian census is an indication of
the size of this operation," Chandramouli said at a function
organised for unveiling the logo of enumerators.
The logo was unveiled by Home Minister P Chidambaram.
The massive exercise, to be spread over next 11 months,
will mark a milestone as the first-ever NPR will also be
prepared in which all persons aged over 15 years will be
photographed and fingerprinted to create a biometric national
database.
With this, India will probably become the first
democratic nation in the world which would have got its
population fingerprinted in a year from now.
Once the NPR final database is created, the same will be
sent to Unique Identification Authority of India for
duplication and generation of UID number and for issuing
proposed identity smart card.
The population enumeration has already been done in
snow-bound areas in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and
some other parts of the country.
The data of migrant population will be collected on the
night of February 28 at airports, railway stations, sea ports
and bus terminals.
PTI
