Census 1.34 lakh submit self enumeration in Delhi 50 000 deployed for houselisting visits

New Delhi, May 15 (PTI) Around 50,000 enumerators will visit households in MCD wards from Saturday, under houselisting phase of Census 2027, officials said.
    The self enumeration exercise in 250 wards of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) concluded on Friday, with 1.34 lakh persons submitting census details online, they said.
    There are around 30-32 lakh houses in MCD areas. The wards have been mapped into around 46,000 houselisting blocks. Each houselisting block comprises 180-200 houses, an official tasked with Census work said.
    To verify the authenticity of census personnel and supervisors, people can check their identity cards and appointment letters, and can also scan the QR code printed on their identity cards, he said.
    Self enumeration exercise was already completed in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Cantt areas. The houselisting phase was also wrapped up in these areas on Friday.
    A total of 1,54,127 persons attempted self-enumeration during the exercise between May 1-15, out of which 1,32,840 completed filling their details in the city, barring NDMC and Delhi Cantt areas, according to officials.
    The South West district registered the highest number of total self-enumeration cases at 26,475, followed closely by North West at 26,155 and North East at 24,027 cases. Old Delhi district reported the lowest number of total self-enumeration cases at 811, while Outer North recorded 1,155 cases and Central North 3,505 cases.
    In terms of completed self-enumerations, South West again topped the list with 23,163 completed cases, followed by North West with 22,661 and North East with 20,762 completed entries.
    Old Delhi recorded the lowest number of completed self-enumerations at 659, followed by Outer North with 1,053 and Central North with 3,193 completed cases.
    The houselisting exercise will commence with ground-truthing by the enumerators who will verify their houselisting block maps with field visits. This will be followed by door-to-door survey under houselisting phase. It will conclude on June 14.
    The enumerators will also verify the self enumerations during the exercise, which have been conducted digitally, officials said.
    A senior Delhi government officer associated with the Census work said it is necessary for everyone to be included in the census. If anyone refuses, authorities will first try to explain and persuade them.
    "However, if a person still does not participate in the census despite repeated persuasion, there is a provision for a fine of Rs 1,000 under Section 11 of the Census Act, 1948. Thereafter, if the person is found guilty, there is also a provision for imprisonment of up to three years," he said.
    Under houselisting and housing phase, people will be asked a set of 33 questions notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs. These include about building number, census house number, predominant materials used in the floor, wall and roof of the house, use and condition of the house, total number of persons in the household and the name of the head of the household.
Further, they will be asked to share details regarding ownership of house, number of dwelling rooms, main source of drinking water and lighting, access to toilet and bathroom, fuel used for cooking, use of radio, television, computer, laptop, bicycle, car, jeep, van, main cereal consumed and the use of mobile phones, according to the notification.
    The houselisting and housing census is being conducted digitally with enumerators recording data using a mobile app specifically designed for this purpose, officials said.
    The houselisting and housing census phase will be followed by population enumeration in February 2027, encompassing the collection of demographic and socio-economic data.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)