Amit Shah says announcement of census 'very soon'
New Delhi (PTI) Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the government will "very soon" make an announcement for carrying out the census in the country.
"We will announce it very soon," Shah said in response to a question on conducting the decadal census of the Indian population which has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shah, along with I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, was addressing a press conference to mark the 100 days of the third tenure of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"We will make all the details public when we announce the census," the Union home minister said to questions on the caste census.
India has conducted the census every 10 years since 1881.
The first phase of this decade's census was expected to begin on April 1, 2020 but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shah's comments on the census comes amid vociferous demands political parties on conducting a caste census.
In the absence of fresh data, the government agencies are still formulating policies and allocating subsidies based on the data of the 2011 census.
The house listing phase of the census and the exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR) were scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020 but it was postponed due to the Covid outbreak.
The entire census and the NPR exercise is likely to cost the government more than Rs 12,000 crore, according to officials.
This exercise, whenever it happens, will be the first digital census giving the citizens an opportunity to self-enumerate.
The NPR has been made compulsory for the citizens, who want to exercise the right to fill the census form on their own rather than through government enumerators.
For this, the census authority has designed a self-enumeration portal, which is yet to be launched.
During self-enumeration, Aadhaar or mobile number will be mandatorily collected.
The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner had prepared 31 questions to be asked. Those questions include whether a family has a telephone, internet connection, mobile or smartphone, bicycle, scooter or motorcycle or moped, whether they own a car, jeep or a van.
The citizens will also be asked what is the cereal they consume in the household, main source of drinking water, main source of lighting, access to toilet, type of toilet, waste water outlet, availability of bathing facility, availability of kitchen and LPG/PNG connection, main fuel used for cooking, availability of radio, transistor, television.
The citizens will also be asked about the predominant material of the floor, wall and roof of the house, condition of the house, total number of persons normally residing in the household, whether the head of the household is a woman, whether the head of the household belongs to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, number of dwelling rooms exclusively in possession of the household, number of married couple(s) living in the household among others.
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India describes attack on Fujairah 'unacceptable'
New Delhi (PTI): India on Tuesday described the wounding of three Indians in an attack on the United Arab Emirates' port city of Fujairah as "unacceptable" and pressed for an immediate cessation of hostilities targeting innocent civilians.
New Delhi's reaction came a day after the Indians were injured after a drone attack caused a fire at a major oil industry zone in Fujairah. The UAE had accused Iran of carrying out the strike.
"The attack on Fujairah that resulted in injury to three Indian nationals is unacceptable," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
"We call for immediate cessation of these hostilities and the targeting of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians," the spokesperson said.
Jaiswal said India continued to stand for dialogue and diplomacy to deal with the situation so that peace and stability could be restored across West Asia.
"We also call for free and unimpeded navigation and commerce through the Strait of Hormuz in keeping with international law. India stands ready to support all efforts for a peaceful resolution of issues," he said.
The attack on Fujairah city came as the ceasefire between the US and Iran came under strain in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and gas pass, remains a major sticking point in the talks. Shipping through the narrow Gulf waterway has been severely disrupted by the conflict, triggering a sharp increase in oil prices and energy shortages in several countries.
The UAE's defence ministry on Monday said its air defence systems engaged 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones launched from Iran.
The ministry affirmed that it "remains fully prepared and ready to deal with any threats and will firmly confront anything that aims to undermine the security of the country."
