Punjab HC dismisses plea to know Sonia's religion recorded in Census 2001

A division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the petition filed by former director general of police of Haryana, P C Wadhwa, on whether the Registrar General, Census Operations, is bound to provide details of the religion and faith of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her children under the Act.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ranjan Gogoi dismissed the plea and ruled the information demanded on the religion of an individual is entirely personal.
"It is evident that the petitioner is making efforts to make unjustified inroads into the privacy of the individuals even if they are public figure and consequently the information cannot be made public," the division Bench ruled.
This is being considered a landmark judgment on the right to privacy of Indian citizens and whether private information such as religion and belief of an individual can be provided to anybody under the Right to Information Act (RTI).

चीन में शुरू हुई विश्व की सबसे बड़ी जनगणना

सर्वाधिक आबादी वाले देश चीन ने अपने एक दशक पुराने जनसंख्या आंकड़े को अपडेट करने के लिए सोमवार को विश्व की सबसे बड़ी जनगणना की शुरुआत की।

जनगणना कार्यक्रम के तहत करीब साढ़े छह लाख कार्यकर्ता अगले 10 दिनों में देश के विभिन्न क्षेत्रों में स्थित करीब 40 करोड़ से अधिक घरों में जाएंगे।ये कार्यकर्ता इस दौरान देश के नागरिकों के अलावा विदेशी नागरिकों के घरों में भी जाकर विभिन्न जानकारियां एकत्र करेंगे।

राष्ट्रीय सांख्यिकी ब्यूरो (एनबीएस) के अधिकारियों ने बताया कि ज्यादा सटीक आंकड़ों के लिए जनगणना का दूसरा दौर 11 नवंबर से शुरू किया जाएगा, जो 30 नवंबर तक चलेगा।उन्होंने बताया कि सभी आंकड़ों की गणना दिसंबर में की जाएगी और इसके परिणाम अप्रैल, 2011 में जारी होंगे।

संभावना है कि इस जनगणना से चीन के नागरिकों का आयु संबंधी खाका उपलब्ध हो सकेगा। चीन में एक बच्चे की नीति को सख्ती से लागू किया जा रहा है, जिससे देश में बुजुर्गों की संख्या में तेजी से वृद्धि हो रही है और पेंशन कोष पर भारी दबाव पड़ रहा है

।एनबीएस के अनुसार, 1 नवंबर से पहले जन्म लेने वालों को इस जनगणना में शामिल कर लिया जाएगा, जबकि इसके बाद जन्म लेने वालों को अगली जनगणना में शामिल किया जाएगा, जो वर्ष 2020 में होनी है।जनगणना के लिए, करीब 90 प्रतिशत लोगों को एक प्रपत्र भरने के लिए कहा जाएगा, जिसमें उन्हें करीब 18 जानकारियां देनी होंगी। इसमें नाम, लिंग, प्रजाति, घर का पंजीकरण नंबर और शिक्षा आदि के बारे में जानकारियां देनी होंगी।

Census 2011 counts on gender sensitisation

In Census 2011, special focus will be given to enumeration of women, their literacy and participation in works — either in domestic or vocational capacity.
On the basis of the Census 2001 data, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India office has identified 262 gender critical districts or cities with million-plus population in 26 states, where women work participation was less than 20 per cent or female literacy rate was less than 30 per cent or sex ratio was less than 900.
Maximum number of gender critical districts or cities have been identified in Uttar Pradesh (60), followed by Bihar (28), Haryana (18), Orissa (17), Punjab (16), Madhya Pradesh (16), Rajasthan (15), Assam (12), Delhi (9), Jammu & Kashmir (9), Kerala (9), Jharkhand (8) and Arunachal Pradesh (7) among others.
In Uttar Pradesh, about 50 districts and cities have been identified as gender critical because here sex ratio is less than 900. Moreover, while in 10 districts, the female literacy rate is less than 30 per cent, in 41 districts, women work participation is less than 20 per cent.
In several surveys and past census, it has been noticed that people — particularly in rural areas — ignore infants, children and elderly women, while giving details about family composition and work profile during enumeration. “To ensure an accurate enumeration of women in Census 2011, special attention is being given to gender sensitisation among the public and enumerators,” said Neena Sharma, Director of Census Operations in Uttar Pradesh.
According to officials, in some gender critical districts, women work participation is either very low or nil. But in jobs like “cow milching”, almost every woman in rural areas is engaged. But due to the ignorance of either the respondent or the enumerator, women engaged in such works are left out. In the ongoing Census, every woman engaged in such works will be counted.
“To achieve this objective, it is critical to enhance the skills of enumerators to accurately collect information, which sometimes the respondent is reluctant to share — especially concerning women members of the household. This usually includes information on infants, young and elderly, divorced and separated woman,” said an official.
This time, experts from UNICEF are training master trainer facilitators. Gender master trainer facilitators will be deployed in gender critical districts to train the master trainers about gender sensitisation and ways to quiz the respondents about women members in a family.
“The UNICEF has already provided the training module. In UP, training may begin by November-end,” said Sharma. Enumerators will trained to collect accurate information through cross-questioning respondents during the second phase of enumeration scheduled in February 2011.

Caste enumeration to start in June 2011 in Tamil Nadu

The Centre has informed Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi that caste enumeration would start in June next and completed in a phased manner by September 2011.
"The enumeration of all castes will start from June 2011 and will be completed in a phased manner by September 2011 keeping in view the schedule of the general elections to be held in four states including Tamil Nadu," Union home minister P Chidambaram has said.
In a letter to Karunanidhi dated October 29, Chidambaram has said the Union cabinet on September 9 had approved the group of ministers' recommendation on carrying out a caste census.
Chidambaram was responding to a letter written by Karunanidhi to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in August, seeking to incorporate caste details in the ongoing census process.