Census department urged to be analytical

Gearing up for 2011 National Census report, a state level training on house listing and housing census and National Population Register of all district principal census officers was held at Zonal Council Hall, Kohima, Nagaland on Tuesday.

Additional chief secretary, Banuo Z. Jamir stressed on the need for proper dissemination of correct census report down to grass root level. She said census directorate should be more analytical and do random scrutiny of information before the report was finalized. Banuo stated that filing of census report should also involve the department of planning, industries department and the community for effective response. Stating that the VDBs had resolved to bring out correct census during their conference in 2009, she said that such resolution should be rightly implemented. Banuo further said that incorrect census of the previous report was a major problem faced by the state, adding that the state had not given much importance in training enumerators, and that there was lack of coordination. She urged the department of census to organize more training programmes involving all stake holders.

Principal Secretary, Home, C.J. Ponraj, said that 2011 census should be an opportunity for Nagas to redeem from their mistakes and mark as a watershed in the administration history of Nagas. He called upon the people to have a sense of ownership and honestly participate in the report. Ponraj also said that the sheer commitment of district administrators would bring significant results. Highlighting on process of census report, Ponraj said that an important factor of the 2011 census was the technologically driven programme, which he said would be a challenge. Pointing out that wrong census was a serious issue of the state, he said that it had distorted demography which affected education, planning, literacy rate, mortality rate. “We become dubious achievers in the eyes of the Government of India” he said. Ponraj further said that in the course of filing the report, effective district planning would play an important role. He stated the need to identify categories of villages and unrecognized villages in the state. He further informed that a permanent house numbering system would be maintained, for which the request was placed before the cabinet. Discussion on house numbering, appointment of enumerators and supervisors, house listing and house census etc were also held during the training.

2011 census to probe how many are disabled

If all goes well, the 2011 census will refine its questionnaire in a bid to determine how many to Indians really suffer from disability.
The 2001 census came up with a figure of 2.13 percent of the Indian population. This, experts say, is way off the mark.
And since government schemes are based on statistics, it is important to get the estimates right.
As a first step, the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), an NGO, convened a meeting with various stakeholders to frame questions to determine the size of the disabled population while conducting the census.
C. Chandramouli, the registrar general and census commissioner of India, said he would present the questions to the technical advisory committee for approval.
'Despite a sizeable disabled population, the 1991 census did not have any statistic on it. In 2001, after year-long consultations with NGOs, at the very last moment one question on disability was included in the census,' said Javed Abidi, the NCPEDP director.
But the 2.7 million primary school teachers conducting the census were not trained to handle the question. Nor did they have enough knowledge on disability. So the census showed that only 2.13 percent of the population suffered from disability, he added.
A UN study says 10 percent of all developing countries' population suffer from some disability. A later independent study by the NCPEDP showed that six-seven percent of the Indian population was disabled.
'This meant that while the government officially recognises 20-30 million disabled people, 50-60 million are invisible. This is serious, especially because all government schemes are based on statistics. Therefore, we have decided to help the census commission frame questions to help evaluate the correct population of the disabled,' Abidi said.
The questions, Abidi said, will be such that all categories of disability like autism will be included and not just visual and hearing disabilities. Also, members of the NCPEDP would have a special interactive session with 725 master trainers on the subject.
The master trainers will in turn train 54,000 trainers, who will train the 2.7 million people who will go door-to-door conducting the survey.

NGOs to be involved in India's 2011 census

For the first time in India, non-government organisations (NGOs) will be involved in carrying out the country's gigantic 2011 census operation, officials said on Saturday. "Besides senior officials, renowned personalities from among the NGOs have been selected as national trainers in each state to provide training to other officials to conduct the enumeration of the census," senior census official Dilip Acherjee told reporters. He said: "In the first phase of census 2011, data collection for creation of the first ever computerised National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC), along with house listing and housing census would be taken up April 26 this year." The 45-day work would be completed June 9 tentatively though the dates are likely to vary from state to state. Ahead of the first phase of census, central Home Minister P. Chidambaram would hold a meeting with district magistrates and census officials across the country March 4 in New Delhi to finalise the road map on creation of NRIC. "The coastal states of India have already begun the work on NRIC," the official added. "These very critical and basic statistics of the NRIC would form the database of every Indian and these would be maintained by the Unique Identification of India (UID), a proposed system to be used as a means of uniquely identifying the residents in the country." Acherjee said that the actual population enumeration would be undertaken simultaneously across the country from Feb 9 to Feb 28, 2011 followed by a five-day revision round from March 1-5, 2011. The preliminary census result would be declared March 25, 2011. To conduct the census operation, several thousand enumerators, supervisors and census officers will be appointed across the country soon.

To conduct the census operation, several thousand enumerators, supervisors and census officers will be appointed across the country soon. District magistrates and collectors would be principal census officers (PCO) of the concerned district while sub-divisional magistrates and block development officers would be the sub-divisional census officers and charge census officers respectively. "The Indian census has a rich tradition and enjoys the reputation of being one of the best in the world. The first census in India was conducted in 1872 with a diverse schedule and separately in different regions. In 1981, a census was taken for the entire country simultaneously." Acherjee said: "The 2011 census would be the 15th census since 1872 and the seventh census after India's independence." For the first time, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) would also help to create master trainers, who would educate the enumerators and supervisors to conducted the massive census operation.

No data since 1931, will 2011 Census be all-caste inclusive?

Should India, after a lapse of 80 years, not revive the practice of collecting data on all castes in the ensuing 2011 Census? The proposal of collecting caste-wise data beyond SCs and STs has been made in order to provide similar empirical support to quotas for OBCs in government jobs and educational institutions.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Telugu Desam leader and former Union cabinet minister K Yerrannaidu said that opposition to OBC census often came from the very people opposing reservations. "They would first not let you count OBCs in the census and then cite absence of latest of latest census data as ground to oppose quota for OBCs," Yerrannaidu said.

Describing the present census arrangement as a "double-tongued logjam", he said "OBCs are not responsible for the decision to abolish caste wise census and therefore cannot be sufferers for the absence of such data since 1931."

Since NSSO, an organization run by the Ministry of Statistics, already conducted a sample survey of OBCs to make an estimate of unemployment among them, Yerrannaidu asserted that there could not be any reason for rejecting their demand for caste-wise census.

Brushing aside the apprehension that conducting caste-wise enumeration would trigger casteism, he said, "Non-collection of caste data since Independence has not transformed the Indian society into a casteless one nor had it reduced the practice of caste system." Yerrannaidu pointed out that even the Supreme Court had, in the context of the 2007 legislation extending OBC quota to educational institutions, conceded the need for caste wise census.

The court said, "There is no doubt and in fact it was fairly accepted by additional solicitor general that there is need for periodic identification of the backward citizens and for this purpose the need for survey of entire population on the basis of acceptable mechanism. What might have been relevant in 1931census may have some relevance but cannot be the determinative factor."

Next Census will Count TVs, Lights in your House

For the first time ever, data gathering for the preparation of the National Population Register (NPR), which will serve among others as primary base for issue of unique identity numbers, will be taken up between April 15 and June 1 in the State.
The exercise will be taken up along with the house-listing operations, wherein data on amenities available in all households across the State will be gathered.
As many as 94,000 enumerators, mostly teachers, will be involved in this massive exercise, a precursor to Census 2011, scheduled to be held in February next year.

T K Anil Kumar, director, Directorate of Census Operations, Karnataka, said that Deputy Commissioners of all 30 districts of the State have been appointed as Principal Census Officers of their districts with effect from January 1, 2010.
Pilot state Under National Population Register, personal data of every citizen in the State including date of birth, education and occupation would be collected. Its statistics would form a database for Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) for issue of Unique National Identity Number. Karnataka has already been chosen by UIAI as the pilot State in the country for providing the ID numbers.
Anil Kumar said that a state-level census coordination committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary has already been constituted to ensure coordination among various department.
The committee had its first meeting on January 6.During house-listing operation, enumerators would collect details on housing amenities, ownership, availability and source of water, lighting and sewerage facilities, number of married couples, availability of television sets, in every household, among others.The actual population enumeration in the State, along with the rest of the country, will be held between February 9 and 28, next year. It will be followed by five-day revisional round to update the information collected for any births/deaths occurred so as to obtain the population data as on March 1, 2011, Anil Kumar added.

जन्म पंजीयन अज्ञानता के पंजे में

जन्म रजिस्ट्रेशन के लिए सांख्यिकी विभाग की ओर से किए जा रहे प्रयास नाकाफी साबित हो रहे हैं। नतीजतन ग्रामीण क्षेत्र में जन्म पंजीयन के आंकड़े ४० प्रतिशत से पार नहीं हो पा रहे हैं। शहरी क्षेत्रों में पंजीयन के लक्ष्यों को हासिल करने के लिए कोई दिक्कत नहीं हो रही है क्योंकि अधिकतर प्रसव संस्थागत हो रहे हैं। जबकि ग्र्रामीण क्षेत्रों में घरों में होने वाले प्रसव तथा जागरुकता के अभाव के चलते आंकड़े लक्ष्यों से दूर हैं। सरकारी कागजों में जन्म प्रमाण पत्र की अहमियत के बावजूद ना तो ग्रामीण पंजीयन कराने में रुचि ले रहे हैं और ना ही विभागीय स्तर पर विशेष अभियान चलाया जा रहा है। विभागीय अधिकारी ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में संस्थागत प्रसव नहीं होने को इसके लिए जिम्मेदार मान रहे हैं। उनका कहना है कि शहरी क्षेत्रों में जन्म पंजीयन का आंकड़ा ९६ प्रतिशत है। जबकि जिले में जन्म पंजीयन का औसत ६४ प्रतिशत है। जन्म पंजीयन के आंकड़ा सौ प्रतिशत नहीं होने से अनेक सरकारी कार्यों को पूरा करने में भी परेशानी हो रही है। जनगणना १० वर्ष के अन्तराल में होती है। जिसमें प्रत्येक बार जनसंख्या और उसमें विशेषताओं का पता चलता है। अधिकारियों का कहना है कि वे इसके लिए जल्द अभियान छेड़ेंगे।विश्वसनीय अनुमान के लिएविश्वसनीय अनुमान लगाने के लिए जन्म रजिस्ट्रेशन का महत्व अधिक है। इसी प्रकार परिवार कल्याण की सफलता जन्म दर द्वारा ज्ञात की जा सकती है। चिकित्सा एवं स्वास्थ्य सेवाओं के विस्तार के लिए भी जन्म पंजीयन के आंकड़ों को आधार माना जाता है। शिक्षण संस्थाएं खोलने, पेयजल योजनाओं को लागू करने, विद्युतकरण काम के लिए भी पंजीयन के आंकड़े महत्वपूर्ण हैं।जरूरी है जन्म प्रमाण जन्म प्रमाण पत्र अनेक प्रकार के सरकारी कागजातों में महत्वपूर्ण होता है। विद्यालय प्रवेश, ड्राइविंग लाइसेंस, पासपोर्ट, मताधिकार, बीमा पॉलिसी तथा राशन में नाम दर्ज कराने के लिए यह महत्वपूर्ण दस्तावेज में लिया जाता है। ञ्चग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में जागरुकता का अभाव है। हमनें स्वास्थ्य चेतना यात्रा में अपील भी जारी की थी। प्रचार प्रसार समय-समय पर किया जाता है। विभागीय इसके लिए विशेष अभियान चलाएगा। ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में एएनएम, ग्राम सेवक के सहयोग से पंजीयन हो सकता है।

2011 census from Jan 2010

House mapping and other necessary process for 2011 census of Manipur would be initiated from January next year.
Meanwhile, the Ministry has recommended H Imocha to the post of Director of Census Operations, Manipur for a term of 5 years, informed a source.The State Government has received official intimation from the Ministry of Home Affairs about its recommendation for him.
However, data collection for 2011 census would begin in February 2011, added the source.