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2021 census data to be stored electronically
Why it is in news?
- The data collected during the 2021 Census will be stored electronically, the first time since the decennial exercise was conducted in 1951 in Independent India.
- The RGI issued the notification as the process for the 2021 Census kicks in.
- According to an amended rule notified by the Registrar-General of India, the schedules and other connected papers shall be disposed of totally or in part by the Director of Census Operations, after creating an electronic record of such documents.
Old practice
- Till now the schedules (a tabular form containing details of individuals), carried by enumerators to households, were being stored in a physical form at the government’s storehouse in Delhi.
- It is based on these schedules that the relevant statistical information on population, language and occupation are sorted and published.
- An individual’s household data are not published by the RGI. They are published in the form of tables on the Census website. The data are preserved for 10 years and then destroyed.
New format
- The records, running into crores of pages, were occupying space in government office and it has now been decided that they will be stored in an electronic format.
- The electronic record has been given the status of a document under the IT Act, 2000 so that if there is any infringement action can be initiated.
- From now on, it can be stored forever in an electronic format.
Source
The Hindu