Census exercise to seek info on toilets, mobile number

The government has issued notification for the house-listing operations for Census 2021 from April 1 next year with a list of 31 questions.

Invoking Section 3 and Section 17A of the Census Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in the notification, the Central Government "hereby declares that the houselisting operations of the Census of India 2021 shall take place from the 1st April, 2020 to the 30th September, 2020 in India".

This is different from the exercise of National Population Register (NPR) though both are conducted simultaneously.

The notification said it instructs that all Census Officers may, within the limits of the local areas for which they have been respectively appointed, ask all such questions from all persons on the items mentioned by it.

During the house-listing operations, the enumerator will ask 31 questions to the residents which include building particulars, household particulars and assets.

The questions include ownership status of the house, number of married couples in the household, the main source of drinking water, access to a latrine, fuel used for cooking and access to the internet, among other things.

For census related communications, they would also ask for the mobile number of the resident.

The NPR will have 21 questions, which include name, date of birth and parents' name and date of birth, among other details. Government has said Aadhaar number will also be asked but providing that information is voluntary.

QUESTIONS DURING HOUSE-LISTING OPs in 2020
1. Building number (Municipal or local authority or census number
2. Census house number
3. Predominant material of floor, wall and roof of the census house
4. Ascertain use of census house
5. Condition of the census house
6. Household number
7. The total number of persons normally residing in the household
8. Name of the head of the household
9. Sex of the head of the household
10. Whether the head of the household belongs to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe/Other
11. Ownership status of the census house
12. The number of dwelling rooms exclusively in possession of the household
13. The number of married couple(s) living in the household
14. The main source of drinking water
15. Availability of drinking water source
16. The main source of lighting
17. Access to a latrine
18. Type of latrine
19. Waste water outlet
20. Availability of bathing facility
21. Availability of kitchen and LPG/PNG connection
22. The main fuel used for cooking
23. Radio/Transistor
24. Television
25. Access to the internet
26. Laptop/Computer
27. Telephone/Mobile Phone/Smartphone
28. Bicycle/Scooter/Motorcycle/Moped
29. Car/Jeep/Van
30. Main Cereal consumed in the household
31. Mobile Number (for census-related communications only)