Assam Government gears up for Census-2021

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Following a direction from the Registrar General of India (RGI), the Government of Assam is gearing up to conduct Census-2021 across the State. While phase-1 of Census 2021 which includes ‘House listing and Housing Census’ will be conducted from April 20 to May 20, 2020; phase-2 pertaining to ‘Population Enumeration’ will be conducted from February 9 to 28, 2021.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the State government that for the first time, the “mix mode” approach of data collection has been adopted this time, where the data will be collected on papers and through mobile app. This will also save considerable time and cost and result in the early release of Census data. A Central Monitoring and Management System (CMMS) — a web portal — has also been developed to manage and monitor all the Census-related activities.

General Administration Department (GAD) sources informed that more than 50,000 government employees will be involved in this Census exercise. With approval of the State Chief Secretary, GAD has already appointed and notified Census officers at the divisions, districts, subdivisions and special areas.

Since it is a time bound exercise, Dispur has directed all the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to deal “as priority” all matters related to the Census. The GAD will further liaise with the Central government and district-level officers for the jurisdictional changes, training, fund, actual conduct of Census enumeration and settlement of Utilization Certificates (UCs).

In this regard, a meeting was held on Monday at the Administrative Staff College here where all the DCs were present. Among those present on the occasion were State Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna, Deputy Registrar General of India AK Samal, GAD Commissioner & Secretary M Angamuthu, and Director Census Operation Assam Narayan Konwar. During the meeting, Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna said that as a number of issues have been raised with regard to NRC (National Register of Citizens), so Census-2021 is a very significant exercise in Assam. The officials should ensure that there is no harassment of public during the data-collection exercise. The DCs should maintain strict vigilance during the Census period so that no wrong information is published in the media.”

Deputy Registrar General of India AK Samal presented a detailed briefing on the Census operation during the meeting.

In India, the Census is the largest administrative and statistical exercise in the world. This huge exercise will require massive preparations and advance planning for making it a success.

Meanwhile, the RGI has decided not to conduct the NPR (National Population Register) in Assam as the NRC has already been carried out here. On the other hand, the NPR will be conducted simultaneously with the Census in the other States and UTs of India.

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