1st phase of Census postponed due to COVID outbreak: Government
New Delhi: The first phase of the Census operations, which was supposed to be held from April 1 to September 30, has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said a multiple-layered security approach has been adopted for the security and safety of the Census data.
The first phase of the Census operations (Census 2021) and other related field activities have been postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
The minister said a multiple-layered security approach has been adopted for the security and safety of the Census data and the data collection will be done on registered devices of the enumerators appointed by the states and Union territories.
"Data is encrypted at the device, during the transmission and at servers/storage. The services of System Integrators have been hired for developing the Mobile Apps, management of Census portal and related activities," he said.
Rai said the publicity campaigns are part of the Census operations and all the enumerators are to be registered on the portal before undertaking the enumeration work.
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Karnataka: Voter turnout crosses 50% in 14 LS seats
Bengaluru (PTI): With less than three hours left for voting to end, over 50 per cent turnout was reported in Karnataka where polling is underway in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies on Friday.
According to election officials, the voter percentage till 3 PM was about 50.93 per cent. The voting that began at 7am, will end by 6 pm.
Out of 14 segments that are going to polls today, highest turnout of 58.76 percent was recorded in Dakshina Kannada, followed by Udupi-Chikmagalur at 57.49 percent. The least was 40.10 percent in Bangalore Central. The turnout was 40.77 percent in Bangalore South and 41.12 percent in Bangalore North.
Bangalore Rural that is witnessing a tight contest between Congress' D K Suresh-- MP and brother of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar-- and Dr C N Manjunath, a noted cardiologist and son-in-law of former PM H D Deve Gowda, on a BJP ticket, has recorded 49.62 percent polling.
In the first phase, the Congress is contesting in all 14 seats, BJP has fielded nominees in 11 and its alliance partner JD(S), which joined the National Democratic Alliance in (NDA) in September last year, in three -- Hassan, Mandya and Kolar.
The segments where elections are being held on Friday are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Chikkballapur.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress and JD(S), which were in alliance and ruling the state back then, had secured just one seat each in these 14 segments. The BJP had won in 11 and ensured the victory of a party-supported independent candidate in Mandya.
