Budget 2021: Rs 3,726 crore allocated for forthcoming Digital Census

New Delhi, Feb 01: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced Rs 3,768 crore for the first digital census. Presenting the Union Budget for 2021-22, she said the government is also working on a national language translation initiative.

"For this monumental milestone marking task, I have allocated Rs Rs 3,768 crore for Financial Year 2021," Sitharaman said.

It may be recalled that Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the 2021 census will be conducted through a mobile phone application, moving away from traditional pen and paper to give Digital India a boost.

The census will have its reference date as March 1, 2021, but for snow-bound Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand it will be October 1, 2020, Shah said.

"Census data will be collected through a mobile app. This is for the first time that the mobile app will be used for the census exercise. India will be moving from the pen and paper census to digital data, which will be a big revolution in the country's census exercise," he said.

Referring to the 2021 census, he said the data will help in future planning of the country, especially for development initiatives and welfare schemes, and it will be a 'Jan Bhagidari' (people's participation) exercise.

"India's total 130 crore population should be informed about its benefits. How, the census data could be used for future planning, development initiatives and welfare schemes. The utilisation of census data is multi-dimensional and will be a significant contribution to the nation's progress," Shah said.

The home minister also said the census will help in demarcating boundaries of municipal wards, assemblies and Lok Sabha constituencies.

He appealed to census officials to carry out the exercise sincerely as this is an opportunity for them to do 'Punya' (holy deed), which will help in nation building.