2021 Census process set for kick off

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, May 17: With the State Level Coordination Committee for Census 2021 already constituted with the Chief Secretary as Chairman, the committee will hold its first sitting at 3 pm tomorrow.
2021 Census exercise will be very crucial for the State because delimitation of the State’s Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Constituencies would be done based on its data.
Director of Census Operations, Manipur is the convenor of the coordination committee while other members include DGP, Administrative Secretaries, Deputy Commissioners, Special Secretary (Home) and the Imphal Municipal Corporation Executive Officer.
Deputy Secretary (Home) Rashni Yengkhom issued an order on May 15 in connection with the constitution of the coordination committee.
The meeting scheduled tomorrow will deliberate on all elements necessary for collection of Census data correctly and precisely, informed a source.
The meeting was scheduled today at the Secretariat South Block at 3 pm but it was postponed to tomorrow on account of certain reasons.
Census operation is a decadal exercise and all plannings of the Central Government as well as State Governments are done based on its data. Even budgetary allocations are based on Census data, said the source.  
Generally, a Census operation is divided into two phases. In the first phase, Enumerators would go to each household and count the number of households and their conditions but they would not count the number of people living in each household.
In the second phase, Enumerators would collect details of each and every member of a household.
The first phase of Census 2021 would be carried within a span of 45 days between April and September 2020. But the exact period would be determined by the State Government in accordance with its convenience.
Headcount would be held from February 9 to February 28, 2021 throughout the country.
The total population of Manipur as per Census 2001 was 22.94 lakhs and it grew to 28.56 lakhs in 2011 which showed that the State’s population increased by 5.62 lakhs during the 10 years period.
Apart from determining delimitation of the State’s Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Constituencies, Socio-Economic & Caste Census 2021 would be largely based on Census 2021.  Even though delimitation of the State’s Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Constituencies should have been done based on the data of Census 2001, the proposed delimitation was put on hold due to several factors and it was decided to maintain status quo till 2026.   
If delimitation is done after 2026, it would be based on the data of Census 2021. As such, the Census 2021 exercise is a very crucial one, said the source.