Counting the Countrymen

In India first Census was conducted in 1872. Since than 14 census have been conducted.

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It has been conducted after every 10 years.

The responsibility of conducting the decennial Census rests with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India under Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Home Minister P. Chidambaram kick-started an extensive data gathering exercise at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 1st April, 2010, where the details of President Pratibha Patil and her family were gathered for National Population Register(NPR). The NPR would be a Register of usual residents of the country. The NPR will be a comprehensive identity database that would help in better targeting of the benefits and services under the Government schemes/programmes, improve planning and help strengthen security of the country.

This is being done for the first time in the country. After the NPR data is ready every citizen will be allotted a Unique Identification Number(UID). Approximately 80 crore people aged 15 years and above will be allotted UID. 

The whole exercise of Census 2011 will cost approximately Rs. 2,200 crore while the NPR will cost Rs. 3,539 crore. As per the estimates India will be the home to over 120 crore people by 1st March, 2011, which is also the cut-off date for the Census. According to Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mr. C.Chandramouli roughly Rs. 59 will be spent per person.

Statistic

Province	Districts	Tehsils	Towns	Villages	Households
35	640	5767	7,742	6,08,786	24 Crore

Over 64 lakhs forms in 16 languages have been printed. There are 21 lakh enumerators and 4 lakh supervisors are engaged in this mammoth task.