Data for 2021 Census to be collected using mobile app: RGI offcials

The data for 2021 census is proposed to be collected through a mobile app, officials from Registrar General of India (RGI) said at a two-day Data Users' Conference here on Tuesday.

At the Conference, the officials said, "For data collection, the enumerators would be encouraged to use their own mobile phone for which they would be paid appropriate remuneration or else there will also be an option to collect and record the data through paper schedules which will eventually be submitted electronically by them."

Speaking at the conference, Union Home Secretary said, "Thirty-three lakh enumerators would be mobilized for data collection for which notification has already been issued. The reference date is October 1, 2020, for Jammu and Kashmir and snowbound areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, while for the rest of the country the reference date is March 1, 2021."

Gauba said, "Census is not just an exercise of headcount but also provides invaluable socio-economic data which forms a credible basis for informed policy formulation and allocation of resources."

"The changing demographics and socio-economic parameters reflected by the census helps in the reformulation of country's plans for the economic development and welfare schemes for its people," he added.

Gauba further said that census data caters to the Constitutional requirement of delimitation of constituencies and reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

However, the Union Home Secretary urged caution while using technology for data collection and stressed that data confidentiality should be maintained. In order to maximise the benefits of census exercise, he asked participants to deliberate on the strategy and questionnaire for the census.

Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner, Vivek Joshi informed that the Census 2021 will be conducted in two phases. Joshi said, "In the first phase House Listing Operations would be conducted in any two months chosen by the States between April-September 2020. In the second phase, actual population enumeration would be done during 9th - 28th February 2021, followed by the Revision round from 1st - 5th March 2021."

"In Jammu and Kashmir and snowbound areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, population enumeration would be conducted during 11th-30th September 2020, followed by the Revision round from 1st-5th October 2020," he added.