“We are setting March as a deadline to finish collecting biometric data across the State for issuing Aadhar numbers, said S. Gopalakrishnan, Director of Census Operations, Tamil Nadu, on the sidelines of the presentation he was making on ‘Tamil Nadu at a glance: 2011 census’ at the Madras Institute of Development Studies on Friday.
He said that the first round of camps for collecting data had been conducted in two districts, i.e. Perambalur and Ariyalur and work is currently in progress in 11 districts. “We will hold a second round of camps in the two districts between November and December,” he said. Around 50 lakh people are being covered in the 13 districts, and work will begin in four more districts by August.
The Director of Census Operations under the National Population Registry is preparing biometric data to issue unique identification numbers. The data would be used for issuing biometric smart family cards. “The State Government wants the data by December, but we will try to complete the process in 15 to 16 districts by then,” he added. “The data is being collected as per the protocol specified by Aadhar. If we got more operators, we would be able to operate in more districts,” he said. Work for Chennai was yet to begin.
He said there has been a significant increase in the State’s population while the population in the country was on a decline over the decade. “Our population has reached 7.2 crore, which was the projection for 2026,” he said.
However, correspondingly, there has been no increase in child population in the 0-6 age group. “This indicates the increase may be because of other indicators such as higher life expectancy, “he added.
Another finding about how districts have fared in terms of child sex ratio, showed Cuddalore and Ariyalur districts in poor light.
The rural child sex ratio in Cuddalore had gone down from 957 to 878, and Ariyalur from 946 to 890.
