Stories from the states: How enumerators are dealing with suspicion

Kerala

On January 6, T V Susan, a 52-year-old anganwadi teacher from Edathala in Ernakulam, was going from house to house for a family survey for the state government’s Sampushta Keralam Programme that aims to ensure nutrition to children below six. Over the days she had covered more than 100 houses, many of them belonging to Muslims, without a hiccup. She was at her 120th house, speaking with an adolescent, who was the only one home at that time, besides a small child. Suddenly, a young man from the neighbourhood arrived on the scene and objected to her taking down the details. He wanted to know why the government wanted this information and whether it would be used for CAA or NPR.

Susan, an anganwadi teacher for 29 years and a former member of the Edathala panchayat, knew the man and his family well. She answered all his questions and then asked him to leave and let her carry on with the duty assigned to her. He did, but soon returned with a group of 40-odd people. She had by now reached the next house. They started shouting at her and tried to snatch her mobile phone, given to her by the government to collect the information, and tried to delete the data. They also threatened her. She called her office, which asked her to turn back. Soon, videos of this incident went viral and, before the end of the day, people were divided into two groups: one for and the other against collecting information of any kind.

The anganwadi workers say they approached the police for protection so that they could continue their task, but the police allegedly did not act. They allege that neither the Social Justice Department nor the panchayat helped, and for a month nobody from the anganwadi went to the area. But since they were told that the survey had to be completed by the end of February, the teachers say they have been trying to get the information without endangering their lives.

Susan, who is the state treasurer of the Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Association (affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, or CITU), says, “It is sad. We are just doing our duty and it is for the welfare of the people.”

While the Kerala government has vehemently opposed CAA and NPR and has said that it will not collect data for these, people are anxious. More so as the Sampushta Keralam survey seeks information about the caste and religion of the residents. An anganwadi teacher, who was locked up in her office by residents, says in some minority-dominated areas of Thiruvananthapuram people have put up boards outside their houses declaring that anganwadi teachers are not welcome. Teachers have been asked to stay away and some have been manhandled and their mobile phones snatched.

This is despite the state Health and Social Justice minister K K Shailaja urging people not to get swayed by rumours. “There is no relation between the anganwadi family survey and NPR,” she has said. “The government is doing the survey for the benefit of the common man. It is not mandatory to mention your religion or caste.”

Similar protests against teachers have been reported from Thrissur, Malappuram and other districts of Kerala. 

There are, however, also those from across religions who understand the benefits of providing information for the survey and are cooperating, says G P Vrinda Rani, district president of the Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Association, Thiruvananthapuram.

The concern is that, in this atmosphere of suspicion, how the enumerators will go about collecting data for Census 2021. Primary school teachers are mainly expected to be employed for the task. The state government has directed district collectors not to link NPR with the Census, and the list of 31 questions released by the Centre for collecting Census details does not have any question that could connect it to citizenship. Even so, the teachers are anxious.

“We have not been intimated about the Census duty so far, but we are not sure if we will accept it even if it is assigned to us. We are very worried,” says P Harigovindan of the Congress-affiliated Kerala Pradesh School Teachers Association. He says a meeting of teachers has been called on March 4 to discuss the issue. The association has 65,000 members, a majority of them primary school teachers.

Harikumar K J, president of the Kerala School Teachers Association, which is affiliated to the ruling Left Democratic Front, dismisses these fears. The state government, he says, has taken adequate steps to reassure the public and no questions that can spark fears of NPR or NCR will be asked.

Gireesh Babu

Uttar Pradesh

Enumerators, whether they are collecting data for the government or doing market surveys for companies, are all facing greater scrutiny in Uttar Pradesh because of anxiety over CAA and confusion over the proposed NPR and NRC. 

Lucknow resident Akash Awasthi (name changed), whose job entails collecting market and socioeconomic data for social organisations and semi-government agencies, says collating information from the target audience has never been tougher.

“People now view anyone visiting their localities with a writing pad and pen with suspicion, and at times they become aggressive. While this is broadly true in minority-dominated areas, such reaction is not uncommon in other areas too,” he says.

He recalls an incident in the Old City of Lucknow where a team had gone to collect data about domestic electricity connections. A group of local people, he says, surrounded them and they were forced to hastily retreat, although no one was hurt.

“Collecting market statistics for FMCG products such as toothpaste, too, has become difficult,” adds Deewakar Pal (name changed), a micro-entrepreneur.

Virendra Singh Rawat

Maharashtra

An NGO that has been working for the education of disadvantaged children for more than 20 years in Mumbai sends its volunteers to survey neighbourhoods to record instances of child labour and to convince parents to send their children for learning programmes. In the last month, in one out of every 20 field visits on average, someone has raised questions about whether the information being gathered has anything to do with CAA or NRC. This is particularly the case in areas such as Govandi and Agripada that have large Muslim populations. “People want to know in which regard the information is being collected. Some ask us to show our ID cards, and ask for general information about what the organisation does,” says a senior member of the organisation. “I think it is good that people ask and want to know. I don’t think anybody in my team has had an issue where people have withheld information yet.”

To assuage such fears, volunteers are trained to explain the NGO’s efforts to locals. “One thing that works in its favour is that the team is in the field five to six days a week and meets people on a regular basis. So even if people don’t know them by name, their faces are familiar,” says the senior member, who asks to remain unnamed.

An order dated February 25 has, meanwhile, informed Mumbai municipal school principals that no leave is to be granted to teachers between March 10 and June 15 this year since they will be on Census duty.

Enumerators have all experienced some amount of suspicion and are bracing themselves for it this time too. “When ads start running on TV and when they see us going around numbering the houses, it creates some awareness,” a Dahisar-based municipal school teacher says, based on her experience collecting data for the 2011 Census. “That helps us convince them.”

Ranjita Ganesan

Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand

When the Bihar Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to say no to NRC, officials heaved a sigh of relief. But then on February 27, the Bihar Assembly unanimously passed a resolution favouring a caste-based Census in 2021. “Caste Census has its pros and cons, but you do not know how people will receive it and whether they will cooperate with the enumerators,” says a senior Patna-based administrative official.

Among the urban elite, caste is private information, neither relevant nor sought to be known in anonymous spaces like workplaces, he says. And in rural areas, it is public knowledge, he says, adding that data collectors might face some problem compiling such a census.

In Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, the concerns aren’t about CAA or NRC but about the security of enumerators in the face of armed rebellion against the government.

A major concern in Jharkhand is the Pathalgadi movement — a practice in which the tribal communities declare self-rule and which is spreading fast in the mineral-rich state. Huge stone plaques and signboards on the outskirts of remote villages warn “outsiders” that they are not welcome.

There are hundreds of such installations, some carrying excerpts from the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which deals with the administration and control of “scheduled areas” and Scheduled Tribes residing in those areas. They all signify self-rule by the local gram panchayat, and declare these villages as sovereign territories.

The supporters of the movement treat the gram sabha as the highest authority, and refuse to acknowledge the authority of the state and central governments. At least two dozen villages, mostly in Khunti district, had installed such stone panels announcing self-rule. Police personnel have repeatedly faced the wrath of villagers. Many have been assaulted or held hostage for challenging the practice of Pathalgadi.

“The incidents targeting government employees in the past and preventing them from entering Pathalgadi villages will be the real challenge for the administration in compiling data,” says Ranchi-based political commentator Suman Shrivastava.

The new Hemant Soren-led government has perhaps made the task even more difficult by declaring on the first day of taking charge that the cases registered against the Pathalgadi supporters would be withdrawn. The previous government had cracked down on the supporters of the movement and had registered cases against over 10,000 unnamed persons.

Shrivastava says that anti-social elements involved in the movement have been freed, and that they will be the biggest challenge as the authorities get down to collecting Census data.

Women surveyors, meanwhile, avoid going to these villages and consider them dangerous. In June 2018, six women working with an NGO were kidnapped from a missionary school and raped in Kochang village. Rupa Kuwar, a schoolteacher, and three other women were deputed for collecting data for a health scheme. “We did not have the courage to visit these places,” she says.

Even the police refuse to escort the surveyors in these areas where the Aadhaar card too is treated as an anti-tribal document.

Conducting surveys and collecting data in the Naxal-infested pockets of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh is relatively easier, the authorities say. It’s the inaccessible terrain and not the fear of Naxals that prevents the authorities from reaching the people. In the little-known Naxal zone of Abujmarh, it is said that even Akbar — who conducted the first revenue survey — failed to map the area because of the difficult terrain. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has, however, announced that he will get the job done.

Anshuman Bhadoriya, a senior police official with a long tenure in the insurgency-hit Bastar region, says that Naxals do not usually disturb survey work, unless they are suspicious of it. No incident of a survey team being assaulted has been reported from these restive areas, he adds. Meena Markam, a health volunteer from Sukma district, recalls an incident when rebels took her hostage along with another surveyor. They let them go after questioning them.

A senior official in the Dantewada district administration says survey teams normally invite the sarpanch and village secretary with the voters’ lists. Data is compiled from this list by adding, deleting or updating information.

A Raipur-based political commentator says there is no reason for the Naxals to oppose the CAA or NPR. “In fact, they will cooperate as this will ensure they remain citizens of India.” If at all, they might oppose it on the grounds that it has been BJP’s agenda.

R Krishna Das