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Census of India 2001

Mobilising Support for India’s Census -

Constraints and Challenges

J K Banthia

Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India

Pretoria, South AfricaNovember 2001

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Some Basic Facts on India :

1. India comprises of 30 states and five union territories with a provisional population of 1,027,015,247 as on 0:00 hours of 1st March 2001

2. Largest state in terms of population is Uttar Pradesh with population at 2001 Census is 166 million and the smallest is the union territory of Lakshadweep with only 0.06 million population.

3. Rajasthan has the largest area – 342,239 sq km; Lakshadweep has the smallest area – 32 sq km

Contd.

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Some Basic Facts on India :

4. Total number of districts - 593. The largest district is Medinipur of West Bengal with a population of 9.6 million and the smallest district is Yenam in Pondicherry with a population of 31,362 only.

5. Total number of towns – 5,161. Population of the largest town - Greater Mumbai and the smallest town has a population 338 in Gujarat.

6. Total number of villages in the country is over 642,000

Contd.

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7. Vast social and cultural diversity can be gauged by the fact that over 1500 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes exist. There are 18 scheduled languages. Six major religions and several other persuasions and faiths co-exist.

8. India has a democratic setup with a free vibrant press.

9. A three-tier system of government - A Union Government for the country at the centre, the provincial governments in the states and the local governments at the village and town level

Some Basic Facts on India :

Contd.

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10.Census is a Union subject and is entirely funded by the Central Government. State and local governments carry out the census operations under the overall supervision of the Central government and their main role is in providing the manpower.

Some Basic Facts on India :

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Census in India

1. Census is carried out under the Census of India Act 1948. There are several provisions in the Constitution which make it mandatory for the Government to undertake census.

2. India has a long tradition of carrying out a decadal population census since 1872 without any interruption. Census of India 2001 is the 14th in the series and 6th since the Independence.

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Census in India

3. Census is carried out in two phases – Houselisting Operations (April to June 2000) and Population Enumeration (9th to 28th February 2001 with a revisional round between 1st to 5th March).

4. For each round approximately 2 million paid Enumerators and Supervisors (mostly Teachers) were deployed.

5. Census is carried out by the canvassing method – the Enumerator visits each household and collects information at the doorsteps.

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Census in India

6. Every person within the boundaries of the country is enumerated irrespective of sex, caste, religion, nationality, age. This includes the houseless and pavement dwellers also.

7. Census information is confidential by law and is used only for statistical purposes in aggregated form at pre-designated administrative levels.

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Census in India

8. It is mandatory for every household to provide information in respect of each member as truthfully as possible to the designated questions put by the Census Enumerator.

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Constraints and Challenges

1. Financial

2. Legal

3. Socio – political

4. Technical

5. Administrative

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Financial :

The quantum of honorarium for the Enumerators (approximately USD 50 per Enumerator)

Size of the enumerating agency – particularly the supervisory staff

Appointment of Master Trainers for intensive and quality training of Enumerators

Deployment of Census Advisors during training of Enumerators for engendering the census, better age reporting and netting of women’s work, particularly unpaid work (Assistance came from UNFPA, UNIFEM & UNICEF)

Use of quality paper and quality printing for Census Schedules due to change in data processing technology (adoption of scanning and ICR technology).

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Financial :

Additional cost on account of Practice Sheet for writing numerals by the Enumerators

Additional cost on account of standardizing the size of training class and on preparation of multi-media training capsules in several languages

Additional cost on account of equipment, such as LCD Projectors, Laptop computers etc.

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Financial :

Approximately half of the projected additional requirement of funds was on account of the manual data processing as per the initial plans.

Additional cost on account of Publicity particularly Radio and Television which are no longer in government control

Size of the Budget requirement therefore increased tremendously over the earlier censuses. Initial projected and approved budget was about US Dollar 260 million (Direct per capita cost on account of census taking and data processing was estimated at USD 25 cents).

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Legal:

Several writ petitions filed in High Court for inclusion of particular questions as a part of Census (e.g., caste, religion..)

For permanent absorption as full time employees in government of part time census employees and even enumerators deployed in the previous censuses.

Challenging the requisitioning of services of certain employees for census work particularly in metropolitan cities (by Bank employees, teachers etc.).

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Socio – political :

Inclusion of question on disability by several NGOs

Providing of extra numeric code for certain religious groups and recording of the existence of their religious communities

Proper recording of certain tribal groups

Providing of separate identity for eunuchs and treating prostitutes/sex workers as economically active population

Changing the period of population enumeration on account of seasonal migration

Enumeration of tenants – a fear among certain landlords of levying of extra House Tax by the town authorities

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Socio – political :

Suspicion among people that certain questions enquiring regarding assets owned by the household will be passed on to the Income tax Department

Overcoming the abnormal ground realities in Jammu & Kashmir in wake of the militants call to boycott census and in Tripura due to social unrest.

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Technical:

Canvassing of only one Census schedule – the Household Schedule

Redesigning of the Houselist and the Household Schedule taking cognizance of the scanning and ICR technology adopted in the Census for the first time.

Provision of practice sheet for Enumerators for writing numeric responses to census questions in a consistent manner across the country to facilitate the process of scanning and recognition of filled-in census schedules

Direct participation and involvement of the population invoked through provision of putting the signatures of the respondent

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Technical:

Enhancing the scope of Census data at the Houselisting stage by including several new items of information on quality of life. Similarly some new questions were added at the Population Enumeration stage also.

Slum enumeration blocks carved out in towns to provide data on housing and demographic data on slum dwellers at no extra cost.

Special efforts made to sensitize the Enumerators and the public to minimize gender biases creeping in unconsciously at the time of canvassing of schedule. This was achieved by better designing of the Questions, restructuring the Instruction Manual and training sessions, engagement of Census Advisors and special publicity measures highlighting women’s work.

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Technical:

Exploring new technology for data processing with a view to speed up the census results and also bring down the huge cost on account of manual tabulation (The revised estimated cost on account of data processing is likely to be in 10 –12 million USD only).

Dissemination of Census results using multiple media, like, printed volumes, floppy diskettes, CD ROM, Internet

By using GIS creating digital database of the administrative boundaries of the country from village level upwards to facilitate thematic maps based on census data

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Administrative :

• Setting the house in order – appointment of Census Commissioner, India and Directors of Census Operations of 35 states.

• Freezing of administrative boundaries with effect from 1. 1. 2000 – ban on creation of new districts, towns, villages etc. (However in November 2000 three new states were created by Government of India !! Unprecedented in the history of Indian Census)

• Finalizing/rescheduling the period of census taking, particularly in Jammu & Kashmir and earthquake affected areas of Gujarat.

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Administrative :

• Overcoming various administrative problems, such as strike of Government employees just prior to the commencement of census operations in Bihar, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir

• Timely printing of about 350 million Census Schedules and 5 million Instruction Manual for Enumerators in 16 and 18 languages respectively – ensuring proper and correct translation

• Logistic support for transporting and distributing the Census material across the length and breadth of the country – by ship, air, rail, road and even on foot

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Administrative :

• Storing and record keeping of 228 million schedules - Collection of filled-in schedules in plastic folders for protection against rain, dust and destruction. Taking care to retrieve them from all the two million Enumeration Blocks, maintaining proper inventory and ensuring proper storage before scanning.

• Enhancing public awareness on Census and with a view for full coverage of the population, even in the remotest areas and improving the quality of information to be collected (overcoming the massive pulse – polio campaign that preceded Census. Similarly the spot light on news coverage of the tragic earthquake of 26th January 2001 had to be taken into account)

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Administrative :

• An appropriate mix of radio (for people in remote and inaccessible areas), television (for largely for the urban and semi-urban people), newspapers and other print media (for various linguistic groups and the literate population)

• Census Help Centres opened across the country to provide instant assistance to Enumerators and also the public to improve the coverage and content.

• Opening of toll free Census Telephone Help Line for public to register their grievance.

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Administrative :

• Special approaches for publicity involved use of stickers, organizing cycle rallies, Census Quiz Contest on Internet, street plays, song and musical numbers, essay competition etc.

• Celebration of 9th February – the first day of census taking – as the Census Day. Mass campaign for affixing the sticker bearing the census logo

• Nation wide free publicity on account of the enumeration coverage of the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and other important dignitaries (This free publicity was worth millions of Dollars).

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Administrative :

• Messages urging people to participate in census wholeheartedly and provide correct information (the President, Prime Minister, Governors and Chief Ministers of states, noble laureate Prof Amartya Sen, popular sports and film personalities and important social activists).

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