On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a high-level meeting in New Delhi to check on preparations for the upcoming Census of India. The meeting included senior officials like the Union Home Secretary and the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
The Ministry of Home Affairs announced that the official notification for the Census will be published on June 16. This will be the 16th national Census and the eighth since India gained independence.
After the meeting, Amit Shah shared key details: “Tomorrow, the official gazette notification will be released. For the first time, the Census will include caste enumeration. Around 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors, along with about 1.3 lakh other census staff, will carry out the Census using advanced mobile digital devices.”
The Census will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, known as the Houselisting Operation (HLO), data regarding housing conditions, household assets, and amenities will be collected. The second phase, Population Enumeration (PE), will gather demographic, socio-economic, cultural, and other personal information about every individual residing in the household. For the first time, caste enumeration will also be part of the Census exercise.
The entire process will be digital, using mobile apps. Citizens will even be able to enter their own information online if they prefer. Amit Shah stressed that strict data privacy measures will protect everyone’s information at all times, during collection, transfer, and storage. This is a massive exercise involving millions of people all across India, aiming to make the Census faster, more accurate, and secure.
