Census ‘11: Capital gears up to count heads

The house-listing census began on May 1 and is expected to wind up by June 15. After that,work will begin on the actual survey of citizens,and on the midnight of March 1,2011,the new figures will be revealed. Nearly 35,000 enumerators,largely government schoolteachers,have been deployed to participate in the largest data collection activity ever undertaken in the Capital. Needless to say,an operation this large poses massive challenges.

Joshi explains that given the size of Delhi,the census operations here are not conducted the way they are in smaller towns and cities. “There,the revenue department officials are deployed to act as supervisory officials and the state department machinery can easily handle the exercise,” she says.

Delhi has been divided into 300 zones for the purpose of surveying. “Naturally,the revenue department does not have 300 officials to supervise the exercise. Someone came up with the idea of appointing school principals as charge officers long ago. It works well,given that they also know how to deal with schoolteachers,who stand in as enumerators,” Joshi adds.

A charge officer supervises a group of enumerators,each one of whom is given a block of 150 houses. The house-listing census is a detailed process that requires listing everything,from the number of rooms in a house to the availability of a toilet.

Surveying one house can take up to an hour if the residents are co-operative,which is not always the case.

“Sometime people are wary of the enumerators and the surveying exercise. For instance,landlords are concerned that the tenants may use the opportunity to lay claim on the property. We have to explain to them that the data collected is confidential and cannot be used legally by anyone,” Joshi explains. Even among those who are aware of what the exercise is all about,there is an element of indifference.

A schoolteacher walks into Joshi’s office requesting that her transfer be stopped as she is assigned to participate in the census operations. Such visits and pleas,it turns out,are all part of Joshi’s typical working day.

population figures

35,000 Enumerators enlisted

300 Zones in Capital

House-listing census from May 1 to June 15

Figures revealed on March 1,2011