For the first time, Census to be a digital exercise, Centre tells Lok Sabha

Population Census 2021 — a once in a decade exercise — will be conducted in the digital format with a provision for self-enumeration, the Centre informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday (August 10).

“The forthcoming Census will be the first digital Census and there is a provision for self-enumeration. Mobile App for collection of data and a Census Portal for management and monitoring of various Census related activities have been developed,” Ministry of Home stated in Lok Sabha in response to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s question seeking information about changes, if any, in the 2021 Census process as compared to the exercise conducted in 2011.

This time, a mobile app will collect data and a census portal will manage and monitor census activities. One can log in using his/her mobile phone number and other details.

How will the census be done this time?

Census 2021, the 16th since Independence, will be done in the digital format, an indication that India has embraced digitalization thoroughly as it marches ahead in the 21st century. Till 2011, the exercise involved house to house visit accompanied by an elaborate process of filling up forms. This time, the survey teams will still visit your home but will be equipped with tablets or smartphones to collect information in the digital format.

Self-enumeration will be the highlight of this census. Accordingly, an individual will be required to fill in the required details using specific code. On completing the process, the user will get an identification number on his/her registered phone number. The identification number can then be shared with census officials on door-to-door visit to sync the data automatically.

No plans to release caste data this time

Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Lower House that there is no proposal to release the caste data at this stage.

Rai had clarified the government stand for the first time in July. Rai had then said, “The Government of India has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in Census.”

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The minister’s statement was made in response to demand for a full-fledged caste census by people like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale.

No Census since Independence (1951 to 2011) has published data on any other caste but Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, until 1931, India used to have data on caste.

Will the Census data be used for NRC?

Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also clarified that the data collected during Census 2021 will not be used for making the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “The individual data collected in Census under the Census Act, 1948 are not made public as per the provisions contained in the Act,” the Centre said.