The Hindu 21.04.2010
Housing census from June 1-15 in State
Special Correspondent
| Creation of National Population Register will be taken up simultaneously during the first stage |
Photo: D.Gopalakrishnan 
N. Sundaradevan, Principal Secretary and Commissioner of Revenue Administration (third from right), addressing census workers at the Collectorate in Vellore on Tuesday.
VELLORE: House listing work and housing census – the first stage operation of Census 2011– would be undertaken in Tamil Nadu from June 1 to July 15. The creation of a National Population Register (NPR), to be undertaken for the first time in the country, would also be taken up simultaneously during the first stage.
Speaking to the reporters at the Regional Training Workshop on Census 2011 and NPR conducted for the Collectors, District Revenue Officers, Revenue Divisional Officers, tahsildars, Corporation and Municipal Commissioners and other charge officers from Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Cuddalore districts at the Collectorate here on Tuesday, S. Gopalakrishnan, Director of Census Operations, Tamil Nadu said that the house listing and housing census would form the basis for the second stage of Census 2011 operations to be undertaken from February 9 to 28, 2011.
For this purpose, it would take a list of houses and other dwelling units, and all other related particulars. The second stage exercise would help the Central government arrive at the country's population by enumerating the number of persons in each family listed during the housing census. The current training workshop would be undertaken throughout Tamil Nadu till May 20. While the zonal officers would be the charge officers in the bigger Corporations, the Corporation and municipal commissioners and tahsildars would be the charge officers in their respective jurisdictions.
N. Sundaradevan, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department and Commissioner of Revenue Administration, who is also the State Coordinator for the Census Operations, said that the NPR would facilitate the issue of a Unique Identification Number and an identity card to each citizen of the country. The NPR, which is a unique feature of Census 2011, would be a permanent document. The individual details gathered during the census would be kept confidential and would not be divulged to anyone including the government departments. However, general details would be given to the departments concerned for the purpose of planning, framing policies and implementation of schemes, he said.
Mr. Gopalakrishnan said that one of the benefits of NPR was that it would be possible to update the population figures at least once a year during the interim period between two census years. This would be possible by collating the information in the birth and death registers of the local bodies.
The additional features of the housing census this year is that it would elicit details of the use of computers, telephones and vehicles by the families to be enumerated. The details are being collected in prescribed forms, both in the local language and English.
The NPR would collect details of occupation of the people, but not their income. The enumerators would have to ask only the questions listed in the questionnaire. Any citizen or the head of a family, who is left out during the enumeration process, could call the toll free no.1800110111 and demand enumeration of his household and family members. Mr. Sundaradevan said that no fresh recruitments are being made for undertaking the Census 2011 and that the existing employees are being drafted for the work.
Earlier addressing the charge officers, Mr. Sundaradevan said that about 1.5 lakh field workers, mostly school teachers, would be engaged in the census exercise. The house listing and housing census would give an exact idea of the number of houses needed to ensure housing to the entire population, and enable the government to frame suitable policies.
Mr. Gopalakrishnan said that those engaged in house listing and housing census should classify the complexes containing dwelling units, buildings having houses within the complexes, the houses in each building and the families living in each house. Through an audio-visual presentation, Mr. Gopalakrishnan explained to the charge officers the details to be collected and the methods to be followed. District Collectors C. Rajendran (Vellore), M. Rajendran (Tiruvannamalai), P. Seetharaman (Cuddalore) and R. Palanichamy (Villupuram) participated in the workshop.
