The 2-day training of District/Charge Level Officers for Houselisting & Housing census & NPR updation today got underway here at the District Administrative Complex in Sector 76. The census process would be conducted in Punjab from 15th May to 29th June 2020. The next year, it would be conducted from 9th to 28th February 2021.In her opening remarks, the Deputy Commissioner Mrs. Aashika Jain said that Census is a valuable benchmark for planning and formulation of policies for developmental purposes. Terming People's participation as necessary for ensuring the success of this exercise, the DC said that it must be ensured that no household or individual is left behind in this exercise as it provides data down to the village level which forms the core for determining Literacy Rate, Mother Tongue, Educational levels, Standard of living at grassroots level and also health surveys to provide adequate healthcare facilities to the people.The DC also exhorted the trainee officers to go for updating themselves about new methodologies being adopted in Census apart from advocating popularization of the exercise through Print, Electronic, Social Media to raise awareness on the issue.
On the occasion, while underlining the importance of Census as one of the world’s biggest administrative exercise, the DC divulged that the Census 2021 marks a paradigm shift because for the first time the data will be collected through a specially designed mobile app, using Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model to be followed by enumerators and supervisors, besides the monitoring of entire field operation will be done through Census Monitoring and Management System (CMMS). This would enable faster and direct uploading of data on the central server of the Census Department.It is worth mentioning that 74000 Enumerators and Supervisors would be deployed in Punjab for the census and there would be separate register for rural and urban charges.This training was conducted by resource persons Mr. Madhav Shyam and Pinky Rawat. Among other dignitaries present on the occasion included the Assistant Commissioner General Mr. Yashpal Sharma, Assistant Commissioner Grievances Mrs. Pooja Grewal.