300,000 Enumerators Not Enough For Census Work in Northeast

Guwahati, Apr 3 : Along with the rest of the country, the massive exercise of counting and profiling India's 1.2 billion people began in the northeast  with enumerators collecting personal details of chief ministers and governors among others.

An estimated 300,000 officials in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim have been detailed to carry out the task of door-to-door headcount for the National Population Register.

'The idea is to list the number of people residing in each state besides providing house numbers and also listing the household goods used by each house,' R.K. Das, principal census director of Assam said. Also taking into consideration the terrain of Northeast India, the current number of enumerators might not be enough to complete the same in time.

The census in Assam would be carried out in three phases - the final figures would be published in the 2011 census report.

'The census report would also provide economic indicators, besides touching on aspects like literacy, housing facilities, amenities, caste, religion and other things,' Das said.

'This is the first time the enumerators would be seeking details of assets, properties, household goods, literacy and other information to create a comprehensive database to be incorporated in the National Population Register,' the official said.

They will first begin the process of house listing, which records information on homes. The headcount of people will take place from Feb 9-28, 2011. The full census results will be released in mid-2011.

'I and my wife filled up all the details as sought by the census officials. People should cooperate with the officials and reveal the truth and not try to suppress facts,' Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.