Later this week, the Registrar General of India (RGI) will unveil the first flush of its findings from the 15th census. This once-in-a-decade effort is the seventh in independent India and is expected to showcase an entirely new set of vital statistics, consistent with the ongoing social and economic transformation of the country and something that should enthuse demographers and policy planners alike. Expectations are that the array of socio-economic data...

This article explores the issue of dalits’ inclusion in the media industry. It argues that under-representation of dalits in Indian media leads to an exclusion of news on dalits. [This was presented in the “National Conference on Ethical Issues and Indian Media” held on 26 and 27 November 2010 and in Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu.] [J Balasubramaniam (balumids@gmail.com) is with the Department of Journalism and Science Communication, Madurai Kamaraj University.] The basis...

The recently concluded 15th Indian National Census is an exercise of staggering magnitude — by any standard. For perspective: the decennial Census covered an area of 3.27 million sq. kms, that included 640 districts, 5,767 tehsils, 7,742 towns and over 600 villages. Primary data on 1.2 billion people would be collected by over 2 million enumerators, specially trained for the purpose. The total cost of the exercise is conservatively estimated...

This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...

NGOs fear several thousands left out ‘A mockery as enumerators insensitive' The census of the homeless in Delhi was completed on Tuesday with officials saying that they put in their best effort to count as many persons as possible, though some NGOs feared that several thousands were left out. Director of Census Operations (Delhi) Varsha Joshi said she along with other top officials had personally supervised the effort which began on the night...