Bhubaneswar: The first phase of training for officers and field personnel for the upcoming national census has been completed in Odisha, with administrative officers from 15 of the state’s 30 districts having undergone training, Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari said on Thursday.
Training for the remaining 15 districts will commence shortly, he said, adding that the exercise is being conducted in four phases, from the national level to the grassroots, to ensure the smooth and accurate conduct of the decennial census.
Following the completion of the training, citizens will initially be given the facility to complete their self-enumeration online. Subsequently, enumerators will conduct door-to-door visits, collect information through around 40 questions and verify the data.
Pujari said the census would serve as a crucial database for future administrative and policy decisions, including delimitation of electoral constituencies, caste- and tribe-based reservation, determination of the gender ratio for women’s reservation and identification of Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) blocks in areas where the tribal population exceeds 50 per cent.
The state government is working towards making Odisha the first state in the country to conduct an accurate census, he said.
For this purpose, databases maintained by the Revenue Department and other government departments will be systematically organised. Grassroots-level elected representatives, including Sarpanchs, Panchayat Samiti members and Ward members, are also being involved in the process to ensure effective coordination and accuracy, the Minister added.
