Shah to be briefed on Census planning ahead of notification

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According to sources aware of the developments, the RGI is likely to explain to Shah the preparations done for conducting the Census work, which had earlier got delayed due to the Covid pandemic.

The meeting assumes significance as the Centre is likely to issue a gazette notification to announce the dates for the commencement of the two-phase exercise on Monday.

India’s Census is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act-1948 and the Census Rules-1990 and will be completed in two phases.

In the first phase, the house listing and housing schedule will be finalised. In the second phase, the population enumeration will be done. Normally both the phases cover a period of 11 months from April 1 to February 28 the following year. This time around, caste will also be enumerated in the second phase.

The last Census was conducted in 2010 and 2011, with the first phase completed between April 1 and September 30, 2010, and the second phase from February 9 to February 28, 2011.

The forthcoming Census exercise will be held in two phases by February 28, 2027 and the data will have a reference date of 12 am on March 1, 2027.

The Census exercise was originally scheduled to take place by 2021, but was delayed indefinitely due to the Covid pandemic. The current Census exercise will be held digitally. Therefore, in-house apps, developed for the collection of data through smartphones, have been rigorously tested during the postponed period of Census and have been further updated and improved, official sources informed.

The Census Management & Monitoring System (CMMS) portal developed for the management and monitoring of various Census-related activities has been further improved with additional functionalities, they said.

In order to avoid descriptive responses for questions on relationship to head, whether belonging to SC/ST communities, mother tongue and other languages known, occupation, nature of industry, trade or service, birth date and place, and place of last residence, a 'Code Directory' has been prepared so that the enumerators may codify data in the field, resulting in faster processing of data.

Digital date collection

• An enumerator would collect and submit data directly through a mobile app, using her or his smartphone. The provision of paper schedule is also kept in case of connectivity issue. An online option for self-
• enumeration during both phases of Census has also been planned for both phases.