India launches biometric census

[IMADreamer]

India is launching a census in which every person over the age of 15 will be photographed and fingerprinted to create a biometric national database.

The government will then use the information to issue identity cards.

Officials will spend a year classifying India's population of around 1.2 billion people according to gender, religion, occupation and education.

This is India's 15th census, an exercise that has been carried out roughly every 10 years since 1872.

Over the next year, some 2.5 million census officials will visit households in more than 7,000 towns and 60,000 villages.

They will first begin the process of houselisting - which records information on homes. This count will, for the first time, also attempt to gather information on the use of the internet and the availability of drinking water and toilets in households.

The physical count of residents will take place from 9-28 February 2011.

The processes will stretch over 11 months, consume more than 11 million tonnes of paper, and cost 60bn rupees ($1.3bn; £880m).

India's Home Minister, P Chidambaram, described the process as "the biggest exercise... since humankind came into existence", according to the AFP news agency.

The national census is the only source of primary and credible data in India and is used not just to formulate government policies but also by private companies to identify markets for their products, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi.

The first 16-digit identity numbers are due to be issued starting in November.

The full census results will be released in mid-2011.

BBC News - India launches biometric census

 

[IMADreamer]

This is India's 15th census, an exercise that has been carried out roughly every 10 years since 1872.

can any pakistani memeber tell when Pakistan carried out census like we indian do in Every 10 years??

 

[Marxist]

India is launching a census in which every person over the age of 15 will be photographed and fingerprinted to create a biometric national database.

The government will then use the information to issue identity cards.

Officials will spend a year classifying India's population of around 1.2 billion people according to gender, religion, occupation and education.

This is India's 15th census, an exercise that has been carried out roughly every 10 years since 1872.

Over the next year, some 2.5 million census officials will visit households in more than 7,000 towns and 60,000 villages.

They will first begin the process of houselisting - which records information on homes. This count will, for the first time, also attempt to gather information on the use of the internet and the availability of drinking water and toilets in households.

The physical count of residents will take place from 9-28 February 2011.

The processes will stretch over 11 months, consume more than 11 million tonnes of paper, and cost 60bn rupees ($1.3bn; £880m).

India's Home Minister, P Chidambaram, described the process as "the biggest exercise... since humankind came into existence", according to the AFP news agency.

The national census is the only source of primary and credible data in India and is used not just to formulate government policies but also by private companies to identify markets for their products, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi.

The first 16-digit identity numbers are due to be issued starting in November.

The full census results will be released in mid-2011.

BBC News - India launches biometric census

hopes biometric system system will help us to identify illegal immigrants in our country

 

[Bang Galore]

hopes biometric system system will help us to identify illegal immigrants in our country

How? They are just going to fingerprint everyone. Once the I.D. cards are issued, it may be possible to detect future illegal immigrants. I'm afraid this is not going to happen now and in case there is no real political will to root out the illegal immigrants who are now so large in number that they constitute a substantial votebank. Even if you do identify illegal immigrants ( they are reportedly 20 million illegal immigrants), what are you going to do with them? You can only send them out if there is a country willing to accept them as their citizens which is not going to happen.

 

[Lankan Ranger]

India kicks off its new census billed as the world's largest administrative exercise

India kicks off the national census of its billion-plus population with a 2.5 million strong army of census-takers fanning out across the country to conduct what has been billed the world's largest administrative exercise.

The census, conducted every 10 years, has a new element this year with the collection of biometric data on every citizen to set up a new National Population Register.

President Pratibha Patil flagged off the census Thursday with her pink sandstone presidential palace becoming the first household to be listed.

The yearlong task will end in February 2011 when census-takers will complete the head count of the population, including millions of homeless - people who sleep on railway platforms, under bridges or in parks.

gulfnews : India kicks off its new census billed as the world's largest administrative exercise

 

[sirius]

$1.3 billion! thats way too much to spend only on census ... i mean these funds can be better utilized for rural development

 

[sensenreason]

Population Census Organization

Here's a link to the Pakistani census authority. They already have a national database.

 

[Neutral]

Ms. Pratibha Patil, the President of India, will fill out the first census form today. A census which is being pegged as the world's biggest. And this will kick-off census 2010-11, which is being conducted this time around with the ambitious goal of building a ‘National Population Register'. This register will seek to not only tally India's vast urban and rural population like the pervious censuses did, but will also create an identity database for India's 1.2 bn people. It will include photographs and fingerprints of all residents above the age of 15. Among other things, the census will have details of the use of cell phones, internet, reach of computers, banking facilities and drinking water usage of all its denizens.

The exercise will eventually culminate in each citizen being given an I-card with a unique number. This Unique ID will help bring an end to many weak spots in the system like the rampant duplicity of documentation. Incredibly, this will be the largest exercise of this type in the history of mankind. While the results will be out only in March 2011, it will serve as a great way of getting to know our vast country a little better. Infact, make it lot better! And in that spirit, also perhaps help corporate India in understanding its untapped customer base a little better over the next decade or so.

 

[Chanakyaa]

Great news.
A great program... With a unique mission.

 

[below_freezing]

wierd how is this the world's biggest, our national ID program started in 1980's and is now fully digitalized.

congrats to india, a national ID program is the key step to establishing a strong nation.

 

[Mirza Jatt]

Its a great step..much needed at a time when security is a major issue in our country,cause I am sure this is really going to help towards both intrnal and external security as well..

 

[FreekiN]

The whole world is doing this, i think.

I was apart of the American one that just finished.

 

[ramu]

This project is a massive force multiplier to enable every project designed for the welfare of the people. The delivery mechanism of a typical project in India is pathetic with only a fraction of the allocated funds reaching the target audience. The UID project will bring in effectiveness in delivery not seen since independence.

Some preliminary estimates suggest a massive improvement almost twise the total effectiveness, monitoring and delivery of funds thus making sure more bang for every rupee spent.

 

[Sprint]

The whole world is doing this, i think.

I was apart of the American one that just finished.

Dear,
When did your country have the last one????
And for your info the census in US is still on, I sent my papers only yesterday

 

[Chiru]

GOI should hire RiazHaq and his gang for toilet count and average $h1t weight analysis. All his posts he is concerned about indian toilets systems. Wastage of $h1t in open. As if it is national treasure.