Census 2021 will be India's first digital census, with provision for self-enumeration

New Delhi: The 2021 Census will be the first digital census in the country, as the exercise would be held digitally and there is a provision for self-enumeration.

"The forthcoming census is to be the first digital census and there is a provision for self-enumeration," said Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed Parliament on Tuesday.

A mobile App for collection of data and a census portal for management and monitoring of various census related activities have been developed, the Minister said in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

He said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 census and other related field activities have been postponed until further orders.

The Minister informed the House the questionnaire for the first phase of Census was notified in the gazette of India. He said the individual data collected in Census under the Census Act are not made public.

Rai said special emphasis is given on scientifically designing the Census questions for faster processing and early release of data.

A decadal exercise to enumerate the country's population, census in India is one of the largest administrative and statistical exercises in the world.

The exercise requires visiting every household across the country for the purpose of enumeration and involves the services of three million employees.

First conducted in 1872, the census is the largest repository of the nation’s people, covering everything from demographics like age, gender and marital status, to housing and economic activity.

Data is collected on demographic and various socio-economic parameters like education, SC/ST, religion, language, marriage, fertility, disability, occupation and migration of the individuals.

As a source of primary data at the household, village and town levels, it plays a huge part in the planning and formulation of government policies, social and economic research and business strategies. (UNI)