Census in Karnataka begins tomorrow

Census 2011, which will be launched in Karnataka on Thursday, will be held in two phases. During the 45-day first phase, information on housing, household amenities and the socio-economic and cultural profile of citizens will be collected.

Two forms will be filled in in each household. The first relates to the house listing and housing census. Thirty-five questions will be asked in each household. The second form, which has 15 questions, relates to the National Population Register (NPR).

House listing exercise

During the house listing exercise, the enumerators will also collect data for the NPR, T.K. Anil Kumar, Director, Directorate of Census Operations, Karnataka, told presspersons here on Tuesday.

The 15th national census since 1872 will involve 1.1 lakh officials, including enumerators. In the preliminary phase from April 15 to June 1, housing data will be collected.

Enumerators will start the census work with the collection of data from the first citizen of the State, Governor H.R. Bhardwaj. The second or the main phase called Population Enumeration will be held from February 9 to 28, 2011. The houseless population will be counted on the night of February 28, 2011.

The administrative units for Census 2011 in the State include the 30 districts comprising 176 taluks, 29,340 villages, 220 statutory towns, 127 census towns, and 22 urban agglomerations. The Deputy Commissioners of the districts will be the Principal Census Officers.

Besides them, 17,464 supervisors and 1,03,254 schoolteachers and officials of equivalent grade will be engaged in the census work. Each enumerator will visit 120 to 150 houses during the 45-day exercise.

One supervisor will monitor a batch of six enumerators. Each enumerator and supervisor will be paid an honorarium of Rs. 5,500.

Enumerators will ask 35 questions such as house number, condition of the house, total number of residents, sex, ownership status of the house, availability of drinking water, toilets within the premises, fuel used for cooking, availability of radio/transistor, television, cellphone, bicycle, scooter/moped, car/jeep/van, and whether the household concerned has access to banking services.

For the NPR, details that would be collected from citizens include name, date of birth, place of birth, sex, present address, and nationality.