Census begins, at Raj Bhavan

Enumerators along with top officials of the Census Directorate visited the Raj Bhavan at 7 am to gather census data from the first citizen of the State. They obtained the Governor’s signature on the census data sheet in which personal details were entered.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was the second individual to be enumerated at his official residence “Anugraha” on Race Course Road.

He appealed to the public to cooperate during the census exercise by providing accurate information when enumerators visit their houses.

As many as 1.04 lakh enumerators, mostly teachers, will go to each household for 20 days till February 28 collecting data that is crucial for future planning. They will be monitored by 17,000 supervisors.

Second phase

Population census is the second phase of the Census 2011 process. In the first phase, housing census (buildings, households and amenities available to each household were identified and listed) was conducted in April and May 2010.

The State government has already issued an order directing government school teachers involved in the census to work  only half-a-day for 20 days. They should take part in the census work in the remaining half of the day. As a special case in Bangalore, the government has allowed enumerators to take up full day census work on alternate days.
They can keep away from office for the entire day when they are on census duty.

This has been allowed taking into consideration the difficulty in commuting in Bangalore city due to traffic congestion, according to a circular issued on Wednesday.

Ward-wise GIS maps of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike have been provided to enumerators to help them collect census data in the State capital.

Wide range of data

Citizens are required to furnish information on 29 aspects related to their family. The personal details  include, name, sex, date of birth, current marital status, age at marriage, religion, whether SC/ST, whether disabled, mother tongue, literacy status, highest educational level attained, whether worked any time during the year and category of economic activity.

Other details that would be sought include occupation, nature of trade or service, mode of travel to workplace, place of last residence, reason for migration and duration of stay in village/town since migration.