Census exercise in J-K to begin from June 2020

The work for Census in Jammu and Kashmir will begin from June next year, an official said on Friday.

Unlike the past practice, school teachers will not be part of the Census exercise this time, he said.

Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam on Friday chaired a meeting of the State Level Census Coordination Committee to review the preparatory work for conducting the next population Census 2021 in Jammu and Kashmir, an official spokesman said.

The Planning Development and Monitoring Department has been designated as the nodal department for Census 2021. Deputy commissioners (DCs) have been designated as principal census officers, he said.

"In Census, data is collected on all persons who are present in the country during the period of Census enumeration. At the time of population Census 2011, J and K had a population of 1.24 Crore," the spokesman said.

The questionnaire for Census was pilot-tested in the period between August and September 2019 in Jammu and Kashmir, he added.

The training of 28 master trainers will commence in the month of December 2019 at J and K IMPARD, while training of field trainers will commence in January 2020 and of enumerator and supervisors in April 2020, the spokesman said.

The house listing and household Census will be held between June 1 and July 15, 2020, he said.

The population enumeration will be held in September 2020 in inaccessible (snow-bound) areas and in February 2021 in accessible areas as per the schedule of the Registrar General, he said, adding the data for the National Population Register (NPR) will also be updated along with house listing and household Census.

The Chief Secretary directed that data relating to snow-bound inaccessible areas of each district should be collected from the DCs. Further, he directed that school teachers should be kept out of the purview of the Census 2021 and the nearly 30,000 enumerators and supervisors needed to be drawn from other departments, the spokesman said.

The Chief Secretary asked director Census operations to formulate a check list of activities, role and responsibilities of officers associated with the activity and completion time for systematic planning and effective monitoring of the Census operation, he said.

He also emphasised on factoring in the changes effected in the boundaries of panchayat halqas in the urban areas and also taking into account the latest election data while collecting the Census data, the spokesman said.

Further, director Census operations was asked to liaise with the Planning Development and Monitoring Department on regular basis and ensure that the Census operation is undertaken as per the schedule drawn for the purpose and error free population Census 2021 across Jammu and Kashmir is completed smoothly within the set timeline, he said.