Census has a new face now

The world’s biggest headcount that begins next week got a mascot on Wednesday.

The world’s biggest headcount that begins next week got a mascot on Wednesday.

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A woman enumerator will be the mascot of the 25 lakh enumerators who will go door-to-door for three weeks beginning 9 February to capture the socio-economic-cultural profile of the 1.22 billion people living in .

Home minister P Chidambaram unveiled the mascot on Wednesday.

Enumerators had conducted the house-listing & housing census and collected data on National Population Register in the first phase from April to September 2010.

The second phrase — that begins next week —will continue till 28 February and cost the exchequer about Rs 2,200 crore, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India C. Chandramouli said.

A few hundred villages each in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district and Chhattisgarh’s two highly naxal-affected districts, Dantewada and Bijapur would not be counted during the exercise due to the prevailing naxal situation.

Elsewhere, Chandramouli said the exercise would cover everyone irrespective of their citizenship status.