The accuracy of the household survey will in all probability be higher in the agency areas of Adilabad where tribal people on Tuesday showed their diligence by keeping required documents ready.
A near curfew-like situation prevailed in the tribal belt as Adivasis and others stayed indoors for most part of the day, waiting for enumerators to register details of their families.
Despite the day temperature being high at 36 degrees Celsius and the atmosphere being sultry, enumerators made it on time even to distant destinations like Jodeghat in Kerameri mandal. The village is about 23 km from the mandal headquarters and not much of the length of the road is motorable.
Markets were closed across all centres in the district though some shops began opening in the afternoon when about half the day’s work was completed by enumerators. Wine shops, however, were reportedly open in most mandal headquarter villages.
As compared to their urban counterparts, respondents in the tribal villages were well prepared for the survey as they kept their documents at the ready for enumerators. Though the latter faced some difficulty in terms of language, the time consumed for filling up a single survey form was about 20 minutes, a shade better than what was recorded during the trial surveys.
In urban areas, there were reports of enumerators and their supervisors forcing respondents to participate in the survey by sharing their details especially those related to bank account numbers and immovable property. One enumerator even struck off the name of a family as they refused to part with their bank account numbers.
For enumerators, the day began as early as 5 a.m. when they started either boarding buses for their respective destinations or set off on their motorbikes. Almost every one of them reached their place of deputation before 8 a.m., the time scheduled for commencement of the survey.
