Enumerators to come calling tomorrow

Bangalore, Feb 7, DHNS:Over 1.26 lakh enumerators will fan out across all 30 districts of the State for the second phase of census 2011 commencing on Wednesday.

Personal data, including mother tongue and religion practised by each member of a household, will be among the 29 parameters for which the data would be collected for 20 days till February 28. For the first time, data for the third gender will be collected and they will be identified as "others."

Director of Census Operations, Karnataka, T K Anil Kumar told mediapersons here that the enumerators had been directed to visit houses either early in the morning or in the evening in urban areas, especially Bangalore, for the convenience of the public. Enumerators will identify themselves by showing the ID cards issued by the Directorate of Census Operations before collecting information.

"Most people in urban areas will be away during office hours. People should cooperate in the census operation by making themselves available to the enumerators and giving correct information. The enumerators will try to meet any member of a family during these 20 days," he stated.

People are required to furnish information on 29 aspects related to their family like name, relationship with the head of the family, sex, marital status, literary status, mother tongue, religion, occupation, birth place and travel to place of work.

All enumerators will be provided with GIS maps of villages (in rural areas) or wards (in urban areas) for effective data collection, the Director added.

Allaying fears of people who think that information would be misused, Anil Kumar said: "Information collected during the census will be confidential. The government does not reveal it to anybody. The aim of the census is to make use of the data for effective planning. Hence, there is no need for people to worry about divulging information," he assured.

A revisional round is also scheduled to be carried from March 1 to 5, 2011 to ensure full coverage. However, the reference date for the census data will be March 1, 2011. The provisional data of the population census is scheduled to be published in the last week of March, the director said.