SHILLONG, Feb 10: A state-level conference on Census of India-2021 and updating of the National Population Register (NPR) was held here in Meghalaya on Monday.
Speaking to the participants through video interface, Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India, Vivek Joshi, said the NPR, which was first conducted in 2010, is being updated along with house-listing operations.
Joshi gave assurance that the census data are used “only for policy decision-making of the government, the data are released at the aggregate level only, and no individual information will be disclosed.”
Deputy Registrar General Bharati Chanda explained the roles of the census functionaries and the legal provisions under the Census Act, 1948, and the Census Rules, 1990. She said this would be “the first digital census of the country where data will be collected on smartphones.”
Earlier, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma stressed on the need to “strengthen the grassroots functionaries to make the exercise a success.” He laid emphasis on conducting information education campaigns to create awareness among the public about the importance of the exercise.
“Only when the public realize its importance will correct and accurate data be obtained,” Sangma said, and stressed the need to dispel misconceptions about the NPR exercise.
Census Operations Director, Dr Joram Beda, made a presentation on the various aspects of the census and said that “financial and technical assistance will be provided by the central government to the state for carrying out this operation.”
He also spoke on “questions and concepts related to the census questionnaire.”
Meghalaya Chief Secretary MS Rao, state nodal officer for census & NPR, R Lyngdoh, Joint Director of Census Operations, S Lingasamy, deputy commissioners and officers of the state government, along with officers of the union census operations directorate attended the conference.
