DIGITAL CENSUS OF INDIA

• Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs has said in the Lok Sabha that owing to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, Census 2021 and other Census-related field activities have been postponed until further orders.
• In India, a census is conducted every decade and Census 2021 will be the 16th national census of the country.

Important points:

• The earliest literature ‘Rig Veda’ reveals that some kind of population count was maintained during 800-600 BC.
• During the regime of Mughal king Akbar, the administrative report ‘Ain-e-Akbari’ included comprehensive data pertaining to population, industry, wealth and many other characteristics.
• The first Census was conducted in India in 1872 (although non-synchronously in different parts) during the reign of Governor-General Lord Mayo.
• The newly established office of the registrar general and census commissioner launched and completed the first Census of India in 1881.
• With a history of more than 130 years, it has proved to be a reliable exercise that is conducted every 10 years.
• The Census Act, enacted in 1948, then provided for the permanent scheme of conducting population Census with duties and responsibilities of Census Officers.
• The individual data collected in Census under the Census Act, 1948, are not made public as per the provisions contained in the Act.
• The individual data are not used for the preparation of any other database, including the National Register of Citizens (NRC) Only the aggregated Census data at various administrative levels are released.

Challenges:

• There are two types of error during statistical exercise: Content error, and Coverage error which needs to be minimised.
• Due to fear of losing intended benefits of various schemes (or fear of losing citizenship this time) and lack of education, people fabricate and tend to provide false information.
• Huge expenditure (thousands of crores) is incurred by the government in conducting this exercise.
• The move towards digital mode of collecting the data is a step forward to speed up the process of analysis.
• However, the security of the data being collected (especially on the application) and adequate backup mechanism for such data has to be looked into.
• The availability of data with regional authorities has the potential for abuse of such data, as the concerned authority has access to everything about a particular family (ownership, caste, financial aspects, occupation, lifestyle, etc.).
• Lack of community participation and inadequate training of enumerators to collect the precise and accurate data acts as a big challenge in conducting the Census exercise.

Way Forward

• There is a need to Strengthen the Data Quality which can be done by minimising the coverage error and content error.
• Proper training of enumerators (data collectors) and organizers should be organised. Also, enumerators should be well paid to keep them motivated, as they are the focal point of data collection and ensuring data accuracy.
• Public campaigns should be launched in order to make people aware about the importance of Census in their life.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,,MINT