Next census to be e-census, announces Amit Shah, says `it will be `100 per cent perfect`

`While e-census will have its challenges, there would also be advantages - about 50 per cent of the population will be able to feed their data themselves,` the Union Home Minister was quoted as saying by the PTI news agency.

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday (May 9, 2022) announced that the next census in the country will be conducted in an e-mode and that it will be "100 per cent perfect".

Speaking at a function at Amingaon in Assam, Shah said with the next census to be conducted in e-mode, it will be a 100 per cent perfect enumeration and on its basis, the country's developmental planning for the next 25 years will be undertaken.

While e-census will have its challenges, there would also be advantages - about 50 per cent of the population will be able to feed their data themselves once the mobile application is downloaded on their phones, he pointed out.

The Union Minister said that he and his family will use the mobile application for filing the census data.

"We will have to make people aware of it and our ministry will spare no efforts to do so," he added. 

Census is important from various aspects and for a 'population-sensitive state like Assam', it is even more vital, he said.

Shah also pointed out that census data can reflect demographic changes, economic mapping, areas left behind in the development parameters, cultural, linguistic and societal changes.

The minister maintained that such an all-encompassing crucial exercise was not given its due importance in the past.

Shah claimed that the Narendra Modi-led government has given due importance to Census and his ministry has decided to use technology for scientific and accurate enumeration and proper analysis of the census findings.

"Even though Covid-19 has slowed it down, I am sure modernisation of the Registrar General of India will be completed by 2024," he added.

(With agency inputs)