Population enumeration of Census 2011 from Feb 9-28

New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI) The vital part of Census 2011 --the population enumeration -- will be conducted across thecountry simultaneously between February 9 and 28.

Registrar-General and Census Commissioner C Chandramoulitoday said the biggest-ever census attempted in the history ofmankind enumerating the country''s 1.2 billion population willbe conducted across 35 states and Union Territories.

During the massive exercise, all citizens of the countrywill be counted classifying various factors and according totheir gender, religion, occupation and education.

Enumerators for the first time will collect informationlike ownership of mobile phones, computers, internet, havingtreated or untreated drinking water facility and usage ofbanking services. They will also seek additional informationfor the creation of National Population Register (NPR).

However, information about caste will not be collected inthis phase but through a separate phase to be conductedbetween June and September 2011.

The Rs 2,200 crore exercise will cover all citizensliving in 7,742 towns and six lakh villages in 640 districtsof India. With the expenditure of just Rs 18.33 for eachperson, this census is also being considered as the mostcost-effective.

"To carry out this massive exercise more than 2.5 millionpeople will be engaged. The fact that many countries in theworld do not have a population equal to the number ofofficials that conduct the Indian census is an indication ofthe size of this operation," Chandramouli said at a functionorganised for unveiling the logo of enumerators.

The logo was unveiled by Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The massive exercise, to be spread over next 11 months,will mark a milestone as the first-ever NPR will also beprepared in which all persons aged over 15 years will bephotographed and fingerprinted to create a biometric nationaldatabase.

With this, India will probably become the firstdemocratic nation in the world which would have got itspopulation fingerprinted in a year from now.

Once the NPR final database is created, the same will besent to Unique Identification Authority of India forduplication and generation of UID number and for issuingproposed identity smart card.

The population enumeration has already been done insnow-bound areas in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir andsome other parts of the country.

The data of migrant population will be collected on thenight of February 28 at airports, railway stations, sea portsand bus terminals.