Census over,time to compile data

While the total population count is what the Census is best known for,it will also shed light on various other socio-economic aspects of the country’s population. In Delhi,the female population report will be looked at in detail,as based on the 2001 Census report all nine districts in Delhi were declared gender critical. The child sex ration,which stood at 868 females for every 1,000 males in Delhi,was particularly shocking compared to the national average of 927 females for every 1,000 males. The 2011 Census data will reveal whether several of the Delhi government’s schemes such as the Ladli scheme have managed to narrow that gap in gender ratios.

In Delhi 30,000 enumerators,teachers and principals of government-run schools,worked for the last several months collecting data in two phases — a house listing survey and a population count. “The Department of Education,Delhi,as well as the MCD’s Education department supported our efforts and made available a large workforce without whom an exercise of this scope would have been impossible,”Joshi said.

One of the biggest challenges for the enumerators in Delhi,other than very stringent deadlines,was the fact that landlords restricted access to their tenants. “Till the very last day,we struggled to explain to landlords that the Census does not endanger the nature of their property in any way,” Joshi added.