The Census of India

The Indian Census is the largest single source of a variety of statistical information on different characteristics of the people of India. With a history of more than 130 years, this reliable, time tested exercise has been bringing out a veritable wealth of statistics every 10 years, beginning from 1872 when the first census was conducted in India. The responsibility of conducting the decennial Census rests with the Office of the Registrar General under Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

Historical Background
The Census Commissioners used to look after it from 1881 Census to 1941 Census. The Census Organisation was set up on an ad-hoc basis for each Census till the 1951 Census. The Census Act was enacted in 1948 to provide for the scheme of conducting population census with duties and responsibilities of census officers. The Government of India decided in May 1949 to initiate steps for developing systematic collection of statistics on the size of population, its growth, etc., and established an organisation in the Ministry of Home Affairs under Registrar General and ex-Officio Census Commissioner, India.

Functions and Responsibilities

This organisation was made responsible for generating data on population statistics including Vital Statistics and Census. Later, this office was also entrusted with the responsibility of implementation of Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 in the country. In 2003 this office has been assigned the work of a pilot project on Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC). This pilot project is under implementation in 12 States and one Union territory covering a population of 3.1 million.

The Census Data

The first census of the third millennium and twenty first century the Census of India, 2001 was the 14th continuous and uninterrupted Indian census since 1872. The Census of India, 2001 was conducted in two distinct but inter-related phases. 1. The first phase, the House-listing Operation was conducted between AprilSeptember, 2000 in different states and union territories as a prelude to the exercise of undertaking the decennial Population Census. During this House-listing Operation, data on housing conditions, amenities and assets available to the households were also collected. 2. The second phase of census i.e. Population Enumeration, was undertaken between February, 9-28th 2001 (both days inclusive) with a revisional round from 1st to 5th March, 2001. The Census moment was 00.00 hours of 1st March, 2001, the referral time at which the snapshot of the population of the country was taken. This was a departure from the earlier census tradition, as until the 1991 Census (except 1971), the sunrise of 1st March of the relevant Census year was the census moment. The enumeration of houseless population was carried out on the night of February 28th, 2001.

Census Data Collection

The door to door universal canvassing of the Household Schedule was made. The comprehensive Household Schedule had three parts and two sides A and B. Part I contained the Location Particulars; Part II related to the Individual Particulars and Part III contained questions for Household engaged in Cultivation/Plantation To facilitate quick tabulation for bringing out Provisional Population Totals, provision for page totalling were made in the schedule itself for a few items namely population, males, females, population aged 0-6 years by sex, literates, illiterates and workers and their categories by sex. The Provisional Population Totals were put in the public domain on 26th March, 2001 within three weeks of the completion of the enumeration.

Concepts and Definitions

It is important for the data users to familiarize themselves with the concepts and the definitions of the terms used for proper appreciations of the data contained in this publication. At the same time, it is all the more important to understand the implications of the terms used at the Census of India 2001, for making meaningful comparisons of the similar data generated by various other agencies within the country and with the data produced by other countries in the world.

Persons enumerated
In Census, every person irrespective of age, sex, caste, creed, region, origin or religion is counted only once, without omission or duplication. Foreigners who are expected to stay within the geographical limits of this country throughout the enumeration period are to be counted wherever they are found, if not enumerated elsewhere. It may also be important to state that the foreigners and their families who were having diplomatic status were not enumerated.

Rural-Urban Areas
The data in the table on Final Population Totals are presented separately for rural and urban areas. The unit of classification in this regard is 'town' for urban areas and 'village' for rural areas. The definition of urban area: (A) All statutory places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc. (B) A place satisfying the following three criteria simultaneously: i. a minimum population of 5,000; ii. at least 75 per cent of male working population (main workers) engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and iii. a density of population of at least 400 per sq. km. (1,000 per sq. mile). City: Towns with population of 1,00,000 and above are called cities

Household
A 'household' is usually a group of persons who normally live together and take their meals from a common kitchen.

Literates
A person aged 7 years and above who can both read and write with understanding in any language has been taken as literate. It is not necessary for a person to have received any formal education or passed any minimum educational standard for being treated as literate. People who were blind and could read in Braille are treated to be literates. All children of age 6 years or less, even if going to school and have picked up reading and writing, are treated as illiterate.

Work
Work is defined as participation in any economically productive activity with or without compensation, wages or profit. Such participation may be physical and/or mental in nature. All persons engaged in 'work' as defined above are workers. Persons who are engaged in cultivation or milk production even solely for domestic consumption are also treated as workers. A1: Main Workers: worked for 6 months or more A2: Marginal Workers: worked for less than 6 months A3: Non Workers: did not work at all B1: Cultivators: are engaged in cultivation of land owned or held from Government or held from private persons or institutions for payment in money, kind or share. A person who has given out her/his land to another person or persons or institution(s) for cultivation for money, kind or share of crop is not treated as cultivator. B2: Agricultural Labourers: worked on another person's land for wages in money or kind or share. B3: Household Industry Workers: worked in Household Industry. B4: Other Workers: engaged in some economic activity, but are not cultivators or agricultural labourers or in Household Industry.

Some Indices
Sex Ratio: Sex ratio has been defined as the number of females per 1000 males in the population. It is expressed as 'number of females per 1000 males'. Child Sex Ratio (0-6 years): Child Sex-ratio (0-6 years) has been defined as the number of females in age-group 0-6 years per 1000 males in the same age-group in the population. Literacy Rate: Literacy rate of population is defined as the percentage of literates to the total population of age 7 years and above. Work Participation Rate: Work participation rate is defined as the percentage of total workers (main and marginal) to total population.

Definition of Slum
Slums have come to form an integral part of the phenomena of urbanization in India. It is for the first time in the history of census in the country that the slum demography is being presented on the basis of the actual count. For the purpose of Census of India, 2001, the slum areas broadly constitute of :(i) All specified areas in a town or city notified as Slum by State/Local Government and UT Administration under any Act including a Slum Act. (ii) All areas recognized as Slum by State/Local Government and UT Administration, Housing and Slum Boards, which may have not been formally notified as slum under any act; (iii) A compact area of at least 300 population or at least 60 households of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.

Sample Registration System

Registration of births and deaths is an important source for demographic data for socio-economic development and population control in developing countries. The data on population growth, fertility and mortality serves as the starting point for population projections. Apart from these vital indicators, an adequate evaluation of a number of programs in the health sector, including family planning, maternal and reproductive health, immunization programs, is dependent upon the availability of accurate, upto-date fertility and mortality data. The registration of births and deaths started on voluntary basis and there was no uniformity in statistical returns resulting in both under-registration and incomplete coverage. In order to unify the civil registration activities, the Registration of Births & Deaths Act, 1969 was enacted. With a view to generate reliable and continuous data on these indicators, the Office of the Registrar General, India, initiated the scheme of sample registration of births and deaths in India popularly known as Sample Registration System (SRS) in 1964-65 on a pilot basis and on full scale from 1969-70. The SRS since then has been providing data on regular basis. Despite having the registration of birth & death compulsory under the statute, the level of registration of births and deaths under the Act has continued to be far from satisfactory in several states/UTs.

SRS: The Dual Record System

The SRS in India is based on a dual record system. The field investigation under Sample Registration System consists of (i) continuous enumeration of births and deaths in a sample of villages/urban blocks by a resident part time enumerator, and (ii) an independent six monthly retrospective survey by a full time supervisor. The data obtained through these two sources are matched. The unmatched and partially matched events are re-verified in the field to get an unduplicated count of correct events. The advantage of this procedure, in addition to elimination of errors of duplication, is that it leads to a quantitative assessment of the sources of distortion in the two sets of records making it a self evaluating technique.

Structure of the Sample Registration System

The main components of SRS are: Base-line survey of the sample units to obtain usual resident population of the sample areas Continuous (longitudinal) enumeration of vital events pertaining to usual resident population by the enumerator Independent retrospective half-yearly surveys for recording births and deaths which occurred during the half-year under reference and up-dating the House list, Household schedule and the list of women in the reproductive age group along with their pregnancy status by the Supervisor; Matching of events recorded during continuous enumeration and those listed in course of half-yearly survey. Field verification of unmatched and partially matched events. Filling of Verbal Autopsy Forms for finalized deaths.

Mortality rates
Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in some population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1000 individuals per year; thus, a mortality rate of 9.5 in a population of 100,000 would mean 950 deaths per year in that entire population. It is distinct from morbidity rate, which refers to the number of individuals in poor health during a given time period (the prevalence rate) or the number who currently have that disease (the incidence rate), scaled to the size of the population.

Mortality Rates of Children

Infant mortality rate is defined as the number of infant deaths (one year of age or younger) per 1000 live births. The Child Mortality Rate: The child mortality rate or under-5 mortality rate is the number of children who die by the age of five, per thousand live births. The Perinatal Mortality Rate: It is the sum of neonatal deaths and fetal deaths (stillbirths) per 1000 births.

Other Mortality Rates

The Crude Death Rate: It is the total number of deaths per year per 1000 people. The Maternal Mortality Rate: It is the number of maternal deaths due to childbearing per 100,000 live births. The Standardized Mortality Rate (SMR): This represents a proportional comparison to the numbers of deaths that would have been expected if the population had been of a standard composition in terms of age, gender, etc. The Age-Specific Mortality Rate (ASMR): This refers to the total number of deaths per year per 1000 people of a given age (e.g. age 62 last birthday).

Discussions
Note that the crude death rate as defined above and applied to a whole population can give a misleading impression. The crude death rate depends on the age (and gender) specific mortality rates and the age (and gender) distribution of the population. The number of deaths per 1000 people can be higher for developed nations than in less-developed countries, despite life expectancy being higher in developed countries due to standards of health being better. This happens because developed countries typically have a completely different population age distribution, with a much higher proportion of older people, due to both lower recent birth rates and lower mortality rates. A more complete picture of mortality is given by a life table which shows the mortality rate separately for each age. A life table is necessary to give a good estimate of life expectancy.

Fertility rates
Crude Birth Rate: CBR is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year. General fertility rate (GFR): This measures the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49. Standardised birth rate (SBR): This compares the age-sex structure to a hypothetical standard population. Total Fertility Rate (TFR): TFR is a measure of the fertility of an imaginary woman who passes through her reproductive life subject to all the age-specific fertility rates for ages 1549 that were recorded for a given population in a given year. In other words, this rate is the number of children a woman would have if she was subject to prevailing fertility rates at all ages from a single given year, and survives throughout all her childbearing years. Net Reproduction Rate (NRR): NRR measures the number of daughters a woman would have in her lifetime if she were subject to prevailing age-specific fertility and mortality rates in the given year. When the NRR is exactly one, then each generation of women is exactly reproducing itself. The NRR is less widely used than the TFR, and the United Nations stopped reporting NRR data for member nations after 1998. But the NRR is particularly relevant where the number of male babies born is very high.

Vital Statistics (Figures at a Glance, India 2003)

Total Rural Urban 1. Percentage distribution of population by broad age groups 0-14 32.3 33.7 28.3 15-59 60.5 59.1 64.6 60+ 7.2 7.2 7.2 2. Fertility indicators Crude birth rate 24.8 26.4 19.8 Total fertility rate 3.0 3.2 2.2 Gross reproduction rate 1.4 1.5 1 3. Mortality indicators Crude death rate 8 8.7 6 Infant mortality rate 60 66 38 Neo-natal mortality rate 37 41 22 Still birth rate 9 9 8
Source: Census of India