In a first, govt to collect data on 'transgenders' heading family

In a first, the government will collect data on households headed by a transgender and members living in the family, Home Ministry officials said on Wednesday.

Census officers will be seeking specific information based on 31 questions from every household during the houselisting and housing census exercise scheduled from April 1 to September 30.

Under the head "sex of the head of the household", there will be sub-options viz male, female and transgender, the officials said.

"It is for the first time that information on households headed by a transgender is being collected. In earlier census, there used to be a column for male and female only," an officer said.

Besides, there will be collection of data on "ownership status of the census house" -- whether it is owned or rented, the officials said.

Information will be sought on building number (municipal or local authority or census number), census house number, predominant material of the floor, wall and roof of the census house, use of census house, condition of the census house, household number and total number of persons normally residing in the household, according to a notification issued by the the Registrar General and Census Commissioner.

The numerators will ask whether the head of the household belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe or 'Other' category, it said.

Questions related to main source of lighting, whether the family has "access to latrine", "type of latrine", "waste water outlet", "availability of bathing facility", "availability of kitchen and LPG/PNG connection" and "main fuel used for cooking" will also be asked by the enumerators, the notification said.

The 2021 census will be conducted through a mobile phone application, moving away from the traditional pen and paper.

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.