Census 2011 Phase Two Begins With Enumeration of the President of India

The second phase of Census 2011 began this morning, with the enumeration of the First Citizen, the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan. A team of Census functionaries led by Census Commissioner of India, Dr. C. Chandramouli, along with Director of Census Operation, Delhi - Ms. Varsha Joshi, and Census Enumerator, Rita were present. Information on a number of characteristics about the President's personal household was collected by the Enumerator. After successfully completing the first phase of the Census, called the Houselisting and Housing Census from April to September 2010, the second phase called the Population Enumeration is being conducted simultaneously all over the country from February 9th to 28th 2011.

Census 2011 will be the 15th National Census of the country. The Government has also decided to prepare a National Population Register (NPR) along with the Census 2011.

Speaking after her enumeration, the President asked all persons to take part whole heartedly in the Census operation, which is gigantic in scale and to take it as a national duty. The Union Home Minister Shri P. Chidambaram and the Union Minister of State for Home, Shri Gurudas Kamat were also present on the occasion.

The Indian Census has been the most credible source of information on demography, economic activity, literacy and education, housing and household amenities, urbanization, fertility and mortality, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, language, religion, migration, disability and many other socio-cultural data since 1872.

This release issued at 1100 hrs.