Census Of India

Census is the total process of collecting, compiling and publishing demographic, economic and social data pertaining at a specified time or times to all persons in a country or delimited territory. Census of India 2001 is the fourteenth of the uninterrupted series (once in every ten years) which began in 1872. The census of India 2001 is carried out in two phases. The first phase is the House Listing Operations. This was conducted from April to September 2000. The second phase is the Population Enumeration. This was conducted from the 9th to 28th February 2001. The reference ‘Census moment’ indicating the population of our country was 0.00 hours of 1st March 2001.The first phase of Census of India 2001 began with the House Numbering Operations in which all the houses and structures were affixed a number and listed out in a systematic order. This was followed by the House Listing Operations in which information about the material used for construction, condition of the building, purpose for which it was built etc. from each building is collected. If the building is used for residential purposes a wide ranging set of information that throws light on the quality of life of the residents is collected. This data would provide a benchmark to study the quality of life, housing stock in different parts of the country etc.

The utility of the information generated during this phase can be summarized as follows:
* It enables to ensure complete coverage if the geographical area of the country during Population Enumeration in 2001.
* It helps to asses and estimate the quality of life of people of India, which is reflected by the availability or non-availability of amenities in each household
* It is useful to find out the number of housing units - residential and non-residential in the country. It also helps to find out the purpose for which they are used.
* It is useful to identify geographical areas at different levels of development. This can be utilized for preparing...