Reportedly, the new census form would include elaborate questions, including details on disabilities and cooking gas connections.
Your physical disability, if any, your stream of education, the access to toilets or the LPG or PNG connections you have, these are some of the details that you might have to give when a Census officer visits you in the next few months. In fact, you might also have to answer questions like Do you have access to the internet? Do you own a house but don’t live in it? Do you drink packaged water? and many others.
For those caught unaware, the data collection for the 2021 Census was scheduled to be done across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020. But due to Covid-19 pandemic, it was postponed . The new schedule is yet to be out but the housing listing phase of the Census will be carried out soon, and there are significant changes to the Census form.
As per an e-book launched by the Registrar General of India, the form for census would now have elaborate questions, with details on disabilities and cooking gas connections as additions. The government will reportedly also plan to give people the option of filling the form online.
The Census officer would seek answers whether a disability has been caused by an acid attack or any other disorder, if a person has chronic neurological disorder or an intellectual disability. The last Census, held in 2011, did not have these options. In fact, the phrase ‘mental retardation’ has been changed under the Disability column and has been replaced with ‘intellectual disability’.
When asked about educational qualifications, respondents would have to detail the streams they were educated in — IT, engineering, science, management etc, apart from the highest degree attained — Bachelor, Post-Graduate, M Phil, PhD etc.
Citizens will also have to tell the Census officer whether they have LPG or PNG connections for cooking purposes. The earlier forms only asked whether the person had a kitchen of their own or not.
The new form further asks what kind of TV connection the citizens have , and will have options of six religions — Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain. For other religions, one has the option to write the name of the religion in full. Apart from their mother tongue, citizens can mention two other languages they are fluent in.
