Dr. C Chandramouli*
Indian Census is the single largest source of a
variety of statistical information on different characteristics of the people
of India. It is the most credible source of information on demography, economic
activity, literacy and education, housing & household amenities, urbanisation, fertility and mortality, scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes, language, religion, migration, disability and many other
socio-cultural and demographic data.
With a history of more than 130 years, this reliable,
time tested exercise has been bringing out a veritable wealth of statistics
every 10 years, beginning from 1872 when the first census was conducted in
India non-synchronously in different parts.
The recently concluded Census
2011 is the 15th National Census of the Country in the unbroken series since
1872 and the seventh after Independence. It is remarkable that the great
historical tradition of conducting a Census has been maintained in spite of
several adversities like wars, epidemics, natural calamities, political unrest
etc. Very few countries in the world can boast of such a glorious
tradition.
The responsibility of conducting the decennial Census
rests with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India
(ORGI) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, which includes
conceptualization, planning and implementation of the Census operation in the
country. The organization has field offices in all the States and Union
Territories (except the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and the Union
Territory of Daman and Diu, which are attached to the office at Gujarat). The
field officers are headed by the Directors of Census Operations, who are
responsible for the conduct of Census in their respective jurisdictions.
Methodology
The Census of India is conducted once in a decade,
following an extended de facto canvasser method. Under this approach,
data is collected on every individual by visiting the household and canvassing
a single questionnaire over a period of three weeks. The count is then updated
to the reference date and time by conducting a Revision Round. In the Revision
Round, any changes in the entries that arise on account of births, deaths and
migration between the time of the enumerators visit and the reference date/time
are noted down and the record updated.
Census
2011 has been conducted in two phases. In the first phase, known as Houselisting and Housing Census, each building, house and
other structures were systematically listed and numbered. Besides, useful
information on use of the house, amenities available to the households, if
residential, and assets owned by them was collected. This exercise, held
between April to September, 2010 in different States/Union
territories was used to draw up a frame for the second phase of Census 2011,
known as Population Enumeration held in February 2011.
In the second phase, the Population Enumeration
exercise was held throughout the country from 9th
to 28th February 2011. During this period, about 2.7 million
Enumerators visited about 240 million households collecting information on
every person living in these households. On the night of 28th February, 2011 the Houseless population was
enumerated. Thereafter, a Revision Round was conducted to update the population
with reference to the Census Moment, i.e., 00:00 hours of 1st March, 2011 by updating information on births and
deaths occurring in the households.
Innovations Adopted
India had witnessed unparalleled change in terms of growth in
population, economic development and adoption of new technology, particularly
in the filed of Information Technology in comparison to the previous decades.
This offered an opportunity to reassess each stage of census taking and modify
the procedures taking into account the availability of resources and their
optimum utilization. From planning to execution of the Census Operation,
innovation was the key word. The objective was to ensure full coverage of the
area and the population without omission or overlapping, collection of quality
data without any prejudice and bias and to quickly process the data to make it
available in the public domain for use before it becomes obsolete.
Following are some of the steps
taken in this direction:
Complete and Unduplicated Coverage of Population-While undertaking census operation, a key aspect is to
ensure complete coverage of the geographic area of the country without any
omission or duplication. This requires the updating of jurisdictional boundaries
of all the administrative units from States to the Villages/Towns. Towards this
end for use in Census 2011, information on changes in the jurisdiction of the
administrative boundaries of 35 States/Union Territories, 640 districts, 5,924
sub-districts, 7,935 towns and 6,40,867 villages were
meticulously collected along with official notifications and maps. Each of
these changes was recorded in the digitized maps using latest GIS software. In
addition, the Census Organization has completed preparation of detailed digital
maps of 33 capital cities of the country based on satellite imagery. These maps
show detailed layout of buildings, houses, other structures, road network and
important landmarks and were used in Census 2011.
Quality of Content
Designing the Census Schedules-
Two types of Questionnaire, known in Census as Schedules, are canvassed for the
two phases of Census. In Census 2011, the work of designing the Schedules was
entrusted to the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
which came up with brilliant designs, which were easy to use, aesthetically
developed, easy to scan and comparable to the best in the world. The Schedules
had several unique features like Bar Code, Unique Form Number and drop-out
color from a standard palette. All these helped in collecting quality
information and better inventory management, a nightmare in the past. These
features have greatly enhanced the processing of data.
Training- One of the most
critical elements in Census is the training of the field Enumerators who
collect information. Unless the 2.7 million functionaries are clear about the
concepts and methodology, the quality of data collected will suffer. For the
first time support of the NGOs was taken in imparting training in local
languages. In Census 2011, a three-tier training hierarchy was put in place
with National Trainers (90 in number) at the country level, Master Trainers
Facilitators (725) at the State level and Master Trainers (54,000) at the
District level. It was the responsibility of the Master Trainers to train 2.7
million Enumerators/ Supervisors at the grass-root level, a ratio of just 50
Enumerators per Master Trainer. The Instruction Manual was substantially
improved by incorporating suitable illustrations and examples. In addition, Training
Guides showing minute to minute agenda was prepared for use by the trainers at
each stage of training. The Guide not only focused on elaborating concepts and
methodology in Census but also covered such aspects as communication, rapport
building etc. One important addition to the basket of training aids was the
introduction of e-Learning modules on important census concepts, where
animation characters representing Enumerators and Respondent(s) were shown
actually delivering the dialogues and asking questions.
Publicity
Campaign in Census 2011- For any large scale operations like Census
Operations to succeed, undertaking adequate publicity campaign is an important
element. Adequate sensitization of the people is a pre-requisite, as Census
aims to collect personal information on each individual residing in the country
at the time of Census. It is also important to focus on proper enumeration of
such critical aspects as gender and disability in the population. In absence of
adequate in-house expertise, the work of devising the entire campaign was
assigned to reputed advertising agencies in the country with support from the
UN Agencies. Elaborate campaign was planned and executed by using mass media,
public outreach and digital media to achieve the objectives. The basic modules
in Hindi were translated in 12 languages for use in different parts of the
country. The media plan was prepared using the latest reports available on
reach of media in different parts of the country using different modes on a
scientific basis.
Census in School Programme- To sensitize school students about the Census 2011,
an innovative programme was introduced throughout the
country, where specially prepared and attractively designed School Kits were
sent to about 60 to 80 schools in each of the 593 districts in the country.
Each School Kit contained a letter from the Census Commissioner, India to the
Principals of these schools requesting them to sensitize the students about the
ensuing Census 2011 and also about the importance and utility of Census.
Special attention was paid to the students of Class VI, VII and VIII for whom
special lessons were sent on different subjects. The Census Commissioner, India
also requested the Principals to designate one week in January 2011 as Census Week
to develop awareness about Census 2011.
Gender Sensitization- Even
though gender had been a prominent cross-cutting priority in 2001 Census, data
related to female count, marital status, female headed households, female
disability and female work-participation has continued to suffer from
undercount or under-reporting. The 2001 census enumerated several villages/
districts that had reported very few women, very low female literacy and no
female worker. To ensure collection of accurate information, an attempt was
made to integrate gender issues into various stages of census taking by
identifying gender critical districts, which had low sex ratio (less than 900);
low female literacy (less than 30%) or low female work participation rate (less
than 20%) on the basis of 2001 Census. In this way 262 Critical Districts were
identified for focused attention and training. Special steps were taken to
appoint additional Master Trainer Facilitators to sensitize the Enumerators on
gender issues and train them in collecting authentic information. Special Data
Sheets and Posters were prepared and displayed at each training class to
sensitize the Enumerators on the poor status of women with reference to these
three critical indicators. Extra effort was also made during the publicity
campaign to sensitize the people to provide correct information about women and
the girl child at the time of enumeration.
Using
Social Networking Websites-With the overwhelming popularity of the social
networking sites among the youth today, for the first time, in Census 2011, a
conscious effort was made to reach them directly. Census 2011 Group was created
on Facebook and Twitter in the first week of February
2011 and regular posts were made initially informing the visitors about
different facets of Census in general and Census 2011 in particular inviting
their support in spreading the message on Census. Within a short time, a large
number of persons, mostly from the younger sections of the population, became
members and actively posted views on the wall. The experience was quite
satisfactory as most of the posts complimented the efforts while a few pointing
out about not being covered in Census 2011. Immediate action was taken to
redress their grievances. The site was also used for disseminating information
on Census 2011 extensively. At present, there are more than 20,000 members on
this Group. Similarly on Twitter as well, the members welcomed the new
initiative. The Census Commissioner,
India was awarded Exceptional Achievement for
innovative use of social media in the country’s biggest governance
exercise.
Community
Volunteers- This was a unique initiative in some North Eastern States where
Civil Society Organisations joined hands with the
Directorates to not only spread awareness but actually take part in the conduct
of the Census. This has had a significant impact in these States and has
greatly enhanced the participation of the general people in the Census.
Time bound completion of field operations and timely release of data.
Using State of the Art data
recognition technology in data capture and data processing- The Census Office has always been in the forefront in the
adoption of the latest data processing technology in the processing of census
data. At 2001 Census, for the first time, a major technology change in the
vital activity of data extraction recorded on the Census Schedule and creating
associated computer data files was introduced, so as to fully computerize the
subsequent data processing activities in generating output tables for use.
India was the only large country in the world to have used this technology in
2001 Census. In the new technology used, the Census Schedules were scanned
using high speed duplex scanners and information read using ICR technology.
When the Census Office adopted this technology in India, it was considered a
risk by many as the technology had been used only by a few small countries and
not tested for a large country. This innovation by the Indian Census not only
saved time and money but allowed accurate capture of data as well. Another
major benefit in adopting this technology was that it allowed the Census to
tabulate the entire data on a 100% basis rather than on a sample basis as was
the case till 1991 Census. Using the ICR technology not only saved time for
data capture and data tabulation thus ultimately making it available to the
users early, but also was very cost effective saving public money.
Despatch and delivery of Census material-In Census 2011, approximately 340 million Census
Schedules, 6 million Instruction Manuals, and other printed materials in 18
languages were used. The despatch and delivery of
these Census materials weighing about 2000 metric tons, printed in the right
language(s) from about twenty printing presses located in different parts of
the country and delivering them to about 17,000 locations in each tehsil in the country was a logistic nightmare. After the
operations, the filled-in Schedules were to be collected and delivered to the
17 Data Scanning Centres and the 33 Census Offices.
This job of collection, delivery and return collection was given to Indian
Posts which used their Logistic Post Service to deliver the material in each tehsil in the country, safely and securely and in time.
With their expert services, the India Posts were able to complete the work in time
satisfactorily.
Public Grievances and Monitoring-A Call Centre was set up to receive complaints from
the public on various issues relating to Population Enumeration. Located in Pune, the facility was extended in 14 languages throughout
the country. The complaints on non-coverage and other issues were quickly
resolved with support from the local Census Offices. The Call Centers facility
was also used to monitor the progress of enumeration work by directly
contacting the Supervisions. At the conclusion of the Population Enumeration
exercise, they have been assigned the job of Post Enumeration Survey (PES) in
four metro cities.
Outsourcing of non-critical
activities-Undertaking the Census Operation requires planning and execution
of a wide array of activities, some demanding serious application of mind and
some simply involving logistics and infrastructure. The scale of operations in
all cases, however, was gigantic, due to the geographic spread and absence of
adequate infrastructure in the country. It was decided at the planning stage
itself to outsource non-critical activities in Census 2011 to allow Census
Officials to focus more on Census related activities than managing logistics.
Adoption of Green Technology.
Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India
supervised and monitored the progress of the Census Operations through video
conferences with all the 640 District Collectors every week. The video
conferencing technology saved huge amount of money which otherwise would have
been necessary if the supervision team practically travelled to all the places
or issued instructions through letters or correspondences.
Availing Call Centre facility to address public
grievances during census helped in spreading green technology.
Cost
The cost of Census taking in such a large country as
India is enormous. In Census 2011, about Rs 2200 crore
was spent from the Central Budget during the two phases of Census, i.e., Houselisting and Housing Census held from April to
September 2010 and the Population Enumeration held in February 2011. The amount
spent was quite low as compared to the world average. According to the 25th
Population Conference organized by the UN Statistical Division held in Seoul
this year, the average cost of Census taking in the world is estimated as $ 4.6
per person. In India, the cost was less than $ 0.5 per person in Census 2011.
The heroines and heroes of Census 2011 have
undoubtedly been the 2.7 million enumerators and supervisors who have spared no
efforts to complete the arduous task in time.
Three weeks to cover a vast and diverse country like India – a task
looked at with awe by the world, but accomplished by these humble women and men
with sincerity and devotion to duty. The Nation is proud of them and we salute
each one of them for their hard work, perseverance and patience. (PIB Features)
*Registrar General and
Census Commissioner, India
RTS/VN
SS-135/SF-135/16.08.2011