Caste census likely in 8 districts from November

BHUBANESWAR: With the arrival of 8,000 hand-held devices from the Centre, the State Government is planning to start the first-ever socio-economic caste census (SECC) from the first week of November in eight backward districts. The Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), nodal agency for delivery of the enumeration devices and recruitment of data entry operators, was supposed to deliver the first consignment of the electronic devices by first week of September. The State required about 35,000 of hand-held devices for SECC to identify families living below the poverty line (BPL). However, ECIL has delivered only 8,000 devices with an assurance to supply another 2,000 machines within a couple of days. Official sources said that the limited number of data entry devices can cover only eight districts. Plans are afoot to start the census operation in Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Balangir, Kandhamal and Gajapati districts. The start of the census operation depends on the recruitment of data entry operators. As per the original schedule, ECIL was supposed to deploy the data entry operators at the charge centres before September 10. However, the Central agency is yet to deploy the data entry operators. ECIL has reportedly communicated to the Government about deployment of 2,500 data entry operators on November 4. The Census operation in the eight districts would be possible if the data entry operators are deployed in the first week of November.  The State Government had planned to complete the field survey by December 15. The State Election Commission is likely to announce the election to the three-tier panchayati raj institutions by the second week of December. Once election is declared, the model code of conduct  comes into force automatically. As per an earlier communication, the Central PSU had indicated that a minimum of 15 days are required to deploy, test and catalogue the devices at the charge centres. The State Government would require at least three weeks to train the enumerators and the supervisors along with the data entry operators. Meanwhile, the Government has appointed the enumerators and the supervisors.  Meanwhile, the State Government has completed training of the trainers (ToT) for the eight districts. But the field survey is not possible due to delay in delivery of the data entry devices and deployment of operators.