The next census held in the country will be carried out through a digital platform which will be ready by 2024, said Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday.
Shah, who is on a two-day visit to Assam, said that the 2021 census process, which was stopped owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be an e-census (electronic census), which will help draw the development map of India for the next 25 years.
“Though Covid-19 has slowed us down, I am confident that by 2024, we will complete modernisation of the Registrar General of India’s (RGI) work and develop a software which will address several tasks under one platform,” the home minister said while inaugurating the state census office in Amingaon, on the outskirts of Guwahati.
“We have taken the historic step to shift the census process from a paper-based one to an electronic format. People can easily fill up all their family details using that software,” he added.
Shah said the new software will have multi-dimensional uses as it will be linked with registration of births and deaths. As soon as someone is born, their details will get updated in the software, Shah said.
Once that person turns 18, their names would get registered in the voters’ list from the census office itself. The names would get deleted from the voters’ list, from the census office, once that person dies. Shah said details like people shifting residences would also get updated through the software.
{{/usCountry}}Once that person turns 18, their names would get registered in the voters’ list from the census office itself. The names would get deleted from the voters’ list, from the census office, once that person dies. Shah said details like people shifting residences would also get updated through the software.
{{/usCountry}}“Lot of tasks would get addressed through the software like registration of births, inclusion of names in voters’ lists, registration of deaths. There would be automatic addition and deletion of such details. There needs to be lot of awareness about this,” he said.
“Success of digital census is very important for the country. We have kept the goal of 100% registration through civil registration system (CRS) by 2024. Each and every birth and death would be registered online and our population figures would get updated automatically,” Shah added.
Earlier in the day, Shah visited a Border Security Force (BSF) border outpost on the India-Bangladesh boundary at Mancachar where he took stock of security and the comprehensive integrated border management system.
He also took part in the ground breaking and foundation stone laying ceremony of the central workshop and store for Central Armed Paramilitary Force (CAPF) at Kelenchi in Tamulpur district. Later in the evening, Shah inaugurated the super-speciality wing Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).
On Tuesday, Shah is scheduled to present the President’s Colour to Assam Police at a function in Guwahati and will also address a public meeting to mark completion of one year of the BJP-led coalition in Assam.