Census of the homeless far from satisfactory, say NGOs

NEW DELHI: The survey of the homeless in Delhi for Census 2011 has been far from satisfactory, according to Indo-Global Social Service Society member Indu Prakash Singh.

Addressing a press conference here to discuss the problems encountered in the census survey, Mr. Singh said: “In many instances, census enumerators simply list a group of homeless people as part of the same family whether they are related or not.”

The exercise was carried out from February 27 to March 1by Census officials and enumerators were guided by non-government organisations working with homeless citizens.

Zaved Nafis Rahman of NGO Butterflies said: “Enumerators at Nizamuddin were tasked with surveying homeless children. However, they refused to venture out and wanted NGO workers to look for and bring them homeless children.”

NGO workers said they had to pursue the Census enumerators to carry out the survey. In many cases, only some showed up and did not stay for long. Others remain inaccessible.

Teachers who were conducting the survey viewed their job as a punishment and reportedly tried to complete their task through short cuts. Allegations were made regarding cooking up of information to fill the census sheets.

Enumerators were further accused of refusing to interact with homeless individuals who were intoxicated.

This experience was common in several parts of Delhi such as Nizamuddin, Okhla, Sarojini Nagar and Nangloi among others.

Owing to the shoddy working methods, several people have not been enumerated in the survey, the NGOs alleged.

Census Survey

The first phase of census survey 2011 will start in the state from June 15 and will be completed over the next 45 days.

It was earlier expected that census work in the state would be delayed as the Soren government was planning to organize panchayat election in June and defer the Census for some time in July-August. Now when there is no possibility of holding panchayat elections in June, the state government has decided to go ahead with the census.

The first phase will have two schedules. The first one is the house listing and housing schedule comprising 35 questions on general aspects such as facilities in houses.


The second one is the preparation of National Population Register (NPR), comprising names of those in each house and their other personal details.

Director (census operations) Sunil Kumar Barnwal said census will be completed smoothly and on time as preparations are on. All the districts are ready for the work.

Progress of all the districts was reviewed through video conferencing, said Barnwal adding the first phase will be completed on time.

The second phase of census, which will be a detailed one and take around two months will start in 2011. During this process, more details such as educational qualifications and sex ratio will be collected on the basis of the data prepared during the first phase.

Sources said if the caste factor is included in the census, as proposed, by the Union government it will be done during the second phase. At present, the matter is under consideration of the government and no final decision has been taken as it may lead to controversy. For Reprint Rights: timescontent.com

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