New census blocks taking shape

Data collected during first phase of enumeration is being processed

The generation of the new census blocks takes significance as these will form the basic units for formation of new taluks, districts, municipalities or for that matter boundaries of police stations.

Census blocks are also taken as the basic unit during delimitation of Assembly or Lok Sabha constituencies and also ward boundaries of local bodies.

“Eighty per cent of the work on redrawing census blocks (known as Abridged House List (AHL) in enumeration parlance booklets. The process for the entire State will be ready by November 20,” said T K Anil Kumar, Director, Directorate of Census Operations, Karnataka.

There is already a blanket ban on making any changes in the boundaries of existing municipalities, revenue villages, tahsils, police stations, development blocks, taluks, sub-divisions, district till the completion of the 2011 census operations ie March 31, 2011 in the State.

The Census Directorate has zeroed in on Udupi as the first district in the State for collecting biometric details of citizens for the National Population Register (NPR).

The process of collecting  the biometric data including the photograph, 10 fingerprints and iris image of all persons aged 15 years and above in this coastal district will begin in January next.

“We have decided to start the biometric capture process from Udupi and take up other districts in a phased manner. A detailed schedule would be announced soon,” Anil Kumar said.

Camps in urban, rural areas

Camps would be set up at every village and at the ward level in urban areas. Each household will have to produce an acknowledgement slip, already provided by the enumerators during the first phase of census, and get photography and biometrics done.

Census Directorate initiative should not be confused with the on-going project of the e-department which in association with Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has chosen Tumkur and Mysore districts as a part of a pilot project to issue 16-digit ID numbers to citizens.

The Census Directorate will cover all 30 districts in the State. The Census Directorate is gearing up to conduct the second phase called the Population Enumeration simultaneously all over the country from February 9-28, 2011.