- The data collected during the 2021 Census will be stored electronically for the first time since the
decennial census began in IndependentIndia in 1951. - The decision for saving data electronically was notified by the
Registrar General of India (RGI) on 19 June. - Tampering with any information will be punished under the
IT Act this time onwards since it is now being electronically saved.
Even though the
The schedules are carried out by enumerators from household to household for the purpose of the survey. Once all the information is collected, the papers are stored at the government’s storehouse in Delhi. The officials earlier had to scan through the pages to obtain and publish relevant statistical information on population, language and occupation.
These amounted to millions of pages and took up a lot of space in the office. The information could not be easily accessed and had chances of being lost if the papers got damaged. The data is used to publish the tables on the Census website and the papers had to be destroyed after 10 years in order to free up space for the next census. However, the information can now be stored forever electronically and will be easily accessible.
The work related to the 2021 Census will begin this year itself, said the home ministry. The Census Commissioner, Sailesh, said that this is a unique chance to measure many new things like how ‘literate’ people are regarding technology that has reached almost every corner of the country in the last 10 years. Since the right to