No data collection yet in Bihar, UP, West Bengal, Assam

Polls in some states and the inadequate supply of tablet PCs have delayed completion of Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 by almost seven months. Work on collecting the data has not even started in a few big states like Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. All these have a sizeable population below the poverty line (BPL).

According to an assessment by the rural development ministry, completing the census, also commonly known as the BPL census, is now realistically expected to end by July. The formal completion time given by the Union cabinet was December 2011.

The census also seeks to analyse the country’s caste composition, the first caste census by the government after 1921.

The last BPL census was conducted in 2002, but its results were not implemented, owing to a dispute between the Centre and states over exclusion of a large number of beneficiaries. The next census, in 2006, also could not take off because of legal tangles.

The Planning Commission then started considering the percentage of the total population for centrally-aided schemes on the basis of a 1993-94 NSSO survey, and not actual censuses conducted from the 10th Five-Year Plan. The NSSO survey is based on consumption patterns. Poverty estimates since the 10th Plan have been based on the NSSO survey.

States, however, were free to conduct their own headcounts, invariably more than the Centre’s estimates, and this often led to conflicts. The latest socio-economic caste census is meant to remove all those anomalies and create a correct database of the country’s poor.

The census is vital, since all social benefit schemes of the government, including the Food Security Bill, would be based on the SECC 2011 data.

Delay in finalising the data could also impact the government’s poverty estimates for the 12th Five-Year Plan, which would start from April 1. This effectively means the Plan process would have to start with the old poverty numbers.

Officials said around 1.2 million personnel had to be trained for SECC 2011. Also, for the first time, low-cost tablet PCs are being used for the collection and dissemination of data. The ministry had also blamed states for delays in setting up charge centres, which were supposed to control the entire census operation.