[Reader-list] News Items posted on the net on Multipurpose National Identity Cards-59

[Taha Mehmood]

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200804241322.htm

The Hindu
Thursday, April 24, 2008

*Patil for quicker compiling of census data*

New Delhi (PTI): With release of census data taking four to eight years from
the date of completion of the exercise, Home Minister Shivraj Patil on
Thursday said efforts should be made to complete the task in two to three
years.

"It should be our endeavour to squeeze the time further and complete the
release of 2011 data in maximum two to three years from the date of
completion of census," he said opening the two-day Data Users' Conference
for Census 2011.

He said this could be possible with use of technology not only at the stage
of data capture and data processing, but even for pre-census planning and
actual census taking.

Patil pointed out that after the 1991 census, it took eight years to release
the data while after the 2001 census, it took four to five years.

With the population of the country expected to be nearly 1.20 billion by
2011, he described as phenomenal the task of taking count of such a large
population across the length and breadth of the country.

He said that looking to the wide ranging utility of the data, it was
essential that census count was both complete and accurate. "There is no
retake in the census and it has to be right the first time," he said.
The Home Minister said a committee headed by the Registrar General of India
has been set up for strictly enforcing accountability of those involved in
census taking. "This is vital to make the census data authentic and
unquestionable," he said.