Introduction |
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The House-numbering and Houselisting Operations were carried out between April – June 2000 in different states and union territories to map out all areas uniformly and list out all the structures, houses and households through out the country. The basic purpose of this elementary, yet so demanding and a crucial exercise, was to prepare a frame, unambiguous and without omission or duplication of any area for systematically conducting the population enumeration during February – March 2001. The Housing Census, thus in someway, was a prelude to the actual population count of the census. The exercise also entailed collection of a wide range of data on housing, amenities and the assets available to the household. The data generated from this operation will not only be of immense use to planners and policy makers in the Central and State Governments, but also be useful to the administrators and planners at local levels, such as district, sub-district and town level. The data sets on the wide range variables being provided for Census 2001 based on Houselisting Operations will also greatly benefit a large number of private companies engaged in various spheres of activity especially, in the secondary and tertiary sector. A
Historical Background Although, in India no separate Housing Census has ever been undertaken in strict sense of the term, a systematic way of House-numbering and Houselisting have been traditionally carried out a few months prior to the population enumeration with the basic purpose of preparation of frame for the latter. Till the 1951 Census, each state was free to adopt its own Houselist form. Although, there was certain amount of commonality in the items included in the Houselist forms canvassed, the lack of uniformity in concepts and definitions by the states made it impossible to attempt building up a national picture on the housing stock. With the commencement of the Five Year Plans, the lack of data on the quality and quantity on housing stock was badly felt. In the 1961 Census, therefore, for the first time, a uniform Houselisting form was adopted all over the country at the time of the House-numbering. Based on the data collected in the Houselist, a few tables giving the purpose for which census houses are used, the material of the wall and roof number of rooms occupied by household, ownership status and were prepared. For the census houses used as industrial establishment, data on the nature of activity, type of power used and the number of persons employed in each establishment were also collected. In the 1971 Census a similar set of questions was canvassed, except that the data on establishment was collected through a separate schedule. The 1981 Census saw a major departure from the previous two censuses. Only two questions, one pertaining to the use the Census house is put to and the other on the physically handicapped, were included in the Houselist form. Information on the amenities available to the household was collected through a separate household schedule canvassed along with the population enumeration in 1981. This was mainly aimed at producing household level tables on amenities available, cross- classified by the characteristics of the household and/or the persons constituting the household. In 1981, at the behest of the Central Statistical Organisation, an Enterprise list was also canvassed along with the Houselist Schedule as part of the Economic Census. In the 1991 Census, the questions on amenities available to households were transferred back to the Houselisting Schedule and data collected for as many as twenty-two items. A question on the type of fuel used for cooking by the households was canvassed for the first time in the 1991 houselist. Availability of toilet facilities to the household was also collected in respect of both rural and urban areas as against only urban areas in 1981. A question on whether the head of the household belongs to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes was asked. This information was used to tabulate various housing and amenities data items for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes households separately. Housing
Census 2001 The Houselisting Operations of Census 2001 saw a major shift in approach in that the emphasis this time lay primarily on the quality of living of households rather than just housing. This shift is in line with the UN recommendations on the broad aspects to be covered during a census enquiry. The data on various aspects of quality of living thrown up by the “Housing Census 2001” assumes greater significance as it provides a benchmark being the first census of the twenty first century and the third millennium. There are several new features in the Houselisting Schedule canvassed at the Census 2001. Besides improvements made in the format of the Houselist Schedule, the scope of enquiry at the Houselisting was considerably expanded with the inclusion of new questions. The number of items on which information was collected increased from twenty-two in 1991 to thirty-three in 2001. Houselist Schedule was not canvassed for houseless households. Similarly, particulars on amenities and assets available in the Institutional Households were also not collected while canvassing the Houselist. The responses for almost all the questions in the Houselist Schedule had pre-coded numeric options, which not only helped enumerators to record the response easily, but also facilitated quick data processing. A specimen copy of the Houselist Schedule is given as Appendix-I for ready reference. The concepts and definitions followed during Houselisting Operations are furnished in Chapter 2. The following new questions were added in the Houselist Schedule of the Census 2001: |
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Besides
adding new questions, improvement was also made in the format of Houselist
Schedule of Census 2001 by modifying certain questions as shown below: |
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The preparatory work on Census of India 2001 commenced right from the
beginning of 1998. The First Data Users Conference was held in April, 1998
at New Delhi. The First Conference of Directors of Census Operations was
held at New Delhi in September, 1999. The Houselisting schedule of Census
2001 was designed on the basis of the discussions during these conferences
and placed before the Technical Advisory Committee, which was set up by
the Government of India for advising the Registrar General and Census
Commissioner of India on technical issues connected with the holding of
Census 2001. The questionnaire of various schedules and forms of Census
2001 including Houselist, thus developed were pre-tested in selected areas
with the help of the staff of the Census Organisation and revised and
later finalized based on the inputs from these tests. As mentioned earlier
the Houselisting Operation was carried out during different periods in
various States/Uts, the details of which are given below. |
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Houselisting Operations : Calendar |
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The period of houselisting chosen was deliberately kept as close to
the population census, as was possible. Taking into account various
factors such as availability of the enumerators, finalisation of the
questions and design of the Houselist schedule, weather conditions and
agricultural activities, it was decided that about a month long duration
for canvassing this schedule would be ideal during April and June,
throughout the country. The only exception was in the snow bound areas of
Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, where the houselisting operations were
conducted on different dates as will be seen in the Houselisting calendar
above. It is important to note that though unlike the population
enumeration, the period of houselisting is not fixed and uniform across
the country, yet given the constraints, the data collected is fairly
comparable over time. Unlike in the previous censuses, when the period of
Houselisting Operations and its duration was a bit open ended for various
states, in Census 2001 in majority of the states the period was fixed
between April – June 2000 and the duration restricted to four
weeks.
A huge army of about two million enumerators and supervisors
carried out the house-numbering and houselisting operations covering about
250 million houses across the length and breadth of the country. It took a
Herculean effort to locate, appoint and provide extensive and intensive
training to such a large number of field workers, especially in terms of
their logistic arrangements. Normally, the enumerators/ supervisors
engaged in the Houselisting Operation are locally available government or
semi-government officials, who are also called upon later to take up the
work of Population Enumeration and therefore, in a way the Houselisting
Operation did provide a good opportunity for the field functionaries to
rehearse for the main enumeration. On an average for every five to six
enumerators one supervisor was appointed.
The first step in the Houselisting Operations was to map out all
areas systematically throughout the country. Each enumerator was required
to prepare a layout map of the area of work allotted to her/him, which is
popularly known as the Enumerator’s Block (EB). The layout sketch not
only depicted the boundaries and important landmark of the EB, but also
showed each of the buildings and census houses within it. While listing of
the houses and households, the enumerators were also required to place a
census number on each and every census house within her/his block with the
sole purpose of identification at a later date. These census house numbers
were also displayed on the layout map. In urban areas in certain areas the
already existing municipal house/flat numbers were used while listing but
in many urban areas the census authorities did choose to put fresh census
numbers. In rural India the census house number had to be necessarily
painted by the enumerators as usually the houses/building in rural areas
do not have any numbers. Specific instructions were issued regarding the
visibility, size and methodology for placing the census number by
enumerators.
In Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and certain other important cities the
numbering of houses was done as an advance operation in close
collaborations with the Municipal authorities in these areas. This was
found to be very useful operation as it provided some advance knowledge
for proper delineation of Enumeration Block. The Government of Tamil Nadu
took special interest for census numbering of all the houses throughout
the state.
Although, a publicity campaign was launched for seeking the co-operation
of the public to come forward and provide correct information during
houselisting, the campaign was kept a low-key affair on purpose. In
addition to the lack of funds, the idea was to bring the publicity effort
to the highest pitch only at the time of Population Enumeration rather
than for the earlier operation. Just prior to and during the operations
advertisements were inserted in leading newspapers across the country in
local language to inform the public about the questions that are to be
canvassed at the houselisting (Appendix II).
It was also emphasized in these advertisements that as provided in the
Census Act, the information will be kept confidential and that it cannot
be used as evidence in the court. It would be important to recall here
that in 1999-2000, the Income Tax Department made it mandatory for an
individual to file income tax return by 31st March 2000, if
she/he possesses among other things i.e. a telephone or car or a house.
Some of the assets on which direct questions were posed to the households
on the possession were common to those in the Income Tax list. To remove
doubts and put considerable confidence in the minds and hearts of the
public at large, particularly the urban population, it was extremely
important for the Census Organisation to give an emphatic assurance about
the confidentiality and non-evidentiary value of the information collected
in the Census. There are reasons to believe that by and large the response
to these set of questions has been satisfactory, exceptions
notwithstanding.
Publicity campaign through radio spots and jingles in different
languages from almost all radio stations in the country were undertaken.
However, television as a media for publicity was sparingly used and these
efforts were very localized. Processing
of Data
A quantum leap was made in the technology front for processing of the
Census 2001 data including the Houselisting data. The Houselist Schedules
were scanned through high speed scanners in fifteen data centres across
the country and hand-written data from the schedules were converted into
digitized form through Intelligent Character Reading (ICR) software for
creation of ASCII records for further processing. The Houselisting
Schedules design and formatting had to be done very carefully using
specialized software so as to ensure uniformity, which was an essential
pre-requisite for scanning. The tremendous increase in data processing
speeds and computing power has made it possible to produce all the
Houselisting tables on full count basis. In 1991, the Houselisting data
for State/Uts with population less than 10 million were prepared on cent
percent basis but for States exceeding the population of 10 million,
tables were produced on the basis of 20 percent sample of census houses
for the country as a whole. For Census 2001, over nine million
Houselisting schedules, consisting of about 250 million records (number of
residential and non-residential census houses) were scanned and processed
within a span seven months to churn out the houselisting data. Task
Force on Quality Assurance
After the data is
processed, it is expedient on the part of the data producing agency to
satisfy itself about its quality before putting the same in public domain.
This has to be mainly done through the process of comparison with similar
data in the past and also through validation with similar data available
from external sources. Quite often the local knowledge and perception
has to be brought into play. The other very important aspect of the
data quality is to ensure complete coverage of all geographical area.
A very comprehensive mechanism was put in place to objectively
study the Census 2001 Houselisting data and finally clear them for
release. The responsibility of final clearance of Houselisting data was
with the Task Force on Quality Assurance (TFQA), headed by the Registrar
General and Census Commissioner, India. The other members of the TFQA were
the Divisional Heads of the Census Division, Data Processing Division, Map
Division, Demography Division and Social Studies Division. The Directors
of Census Operations were co-opted as members whenever the TFQA discussed
the data for their states/union territories. The Directors were required
to make detailed presentations of Houselisting data for his/her own state
and only after the full satisfaction of the TFQA, the data was cleared. The
Houselisting Data
The Houselisting data for Census 2001 is the most comprehensive data set
on the living conditions of the households in terms of their housing
conditions, amenities available to them, and the specified assets they
own. The availability of these data set at the district, sub-district and
town level makes it most exhaustive and unique. This comprehensive and
exclusive data set on household will not only be useful to the
administrators, planners and policy makers within the government but is
expected to be immensely beneficial even to the companies in the private
sector as well. With the processing of cent percent records it has been
possible to produce the houselisting table of amenities at town level for
the first time. The data on housing and amenities at the town level is
going to be extremely useful to the municipal administrators and town
authorities at the local level for reconsidering the allocation of scarce
resources at their command and the housing and urban development
authorities at the central and state level for redefining their priorities
at the macro level.
It would be important for the data users to adopt a certain degree
of caution while making analysis and drawing inferences in respect of a
few variables included in the houselisting data sets. The concepts and
definitions used have to be carefully studied and the issues related to
the practical situations encountered during the canvassing of the
Houselisting Schedule have to be recognized in order to appreciate the
limitations of the data collected in such a mammoth exercise. Although,
all humanly possible precautions were put in place, small processing
errors cannot be totally ruled out. The lower the level of geographical
presentation of data set, the greater would be the likelihood of these
small irritants becoming a little more visible in a few cases. Therefore,
although the data set has to be understood in a proper perspective one
must hasten to add that in any case such small-unintended errors do not
affect any policy planning exercise nor does it affect the analysis.
There are a few tables for which the data have been presented
by the size of the household. Unlike the Population Enumeration, at the
Houselisting, the persons in a household are not recorded one by one to
finally arrive at the actual number of members living in the household at
the time of canvassing the schedule. The number of members in the
household at the houselisting was obtained through a single query with
reference to a period of three months. In certain areas there may have
been an over/under statement of this fact, resulting in marginal but negligible higher/lower average household size
than normal.
Although, as per the instructions the enumerators were supposed to treat a
household as Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) based only on
the state list of SC and ST supplied to them, in certain areas the
enumerators may have exceeded their brief and categorized households as
Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe straightaway accepting the response of
the household. The task of the enumerator became particularly difficult,
as the name of the Scheduled Caste or Tribe was not to be recorded at this
point of time. Once a household was recorded as Scheduled Caste or
Scheduled Tribe, there was no choice but to accept it as such as, and
unlike the Population Enumeration, there was no edit tool on this item at
the time of processing. Therefore, in some areas the possibility of the
counts of the Scheduled Caste or the Scheduled Tribe households being
slightly higher than finally expected cannot be ruled out.
Table H4 provides the distribution of census houses by their types,
namely, permanent, semi-permanent, temporary serviceable and temporary
non-serviceable. Table H4 Appendix distributes the households into similar
categories of houses in which they live. This is a derived table based on
combination of type of material used for roof and wall, which may be seen
in Chapter 2 - Concepts and Definitions. There may be situations where a
particular type of material is locally available and is used as wall or
roof in a large majority of houses. Although, in these areas, the type of
materials used under the given classification system categorizes the
houses as temporary, there is a good reason to believe that these houses
are almost permanent in nature because these structures are not required
to be serviced frequently. For example, the manner in which wood is used
as wall material in the northeastern states does give the houses in these
areas certain amount of permanency and yet in the classification system
adopted it may have resulted in more number of semi-permanent or temporary
houses.
In H8 table data on source of drinking water and its location is
provided. The availability of drinking water by different sources is
categorized as within premises, near premises and away. In case of rivers
and canal as a source of drinking water, for obvious reasons, the
infrequent response ‘within the premises’ was edited to ‘near the
premises’. In case of spring as a source of drinking water, the
distinction between within premises and near premises is at times too fine
and unclear. It was, therefore, decided to edit the source of drinking
water from spring as near premises rather than retaining as within
premises to avoid any ambiguity in classification. Since data has been
collected regarding the location for all these sources, it can be made
available on request at the state/district level.
Although the questions on availability of assets was relatively the
easiest to canvass, as stated earlier the new Income tax law that came
into force just prior to the Houselisting Operations may have resulted in
a somewhat guarded response from the respondent. However, the
enumerators’ perception about the standard of living of the households
may have neutralized this to a certain extent. This publication contains all tables at India and State level according to the declared tabulation plan for general population. The tables for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes households will be brought out in a separate volume. Similar set of tables at district levels is available in separate state-specific publications. Although, the presentations in publications are only up to district level, several of these tables are available at levels below the district i.e. sub-district (tahsil/taluka etc.), cities/towns in electronic formats. The complete series of tables to be released, including those in electronic format, is given in Appendix III. |