Govt declares computer systems linked to census management as "protected"

The central government has declared some computer resources as "protected" for being critical information infrastructure of the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner and their associated dependents.

Through a gazette notification on November 4, the central government declared the computer resources relating to the Census Monitoring and Management System (CMMS) Web Portal, Self Enumeration (SE) Web Portal, Civil Registration System (CRS) Web Portal, Mobile applications for House Listing (HL), Population Enumeration (PE) and National Population Register (NPR) Updation, and linked Databases including NPR Database, Census Database and CRS Database, computer resources setup/installed at National Data Centre (NDC), ORGI, Delhi and Disaster Recovery Site (DRS) and Data Centre (DC) at Bengaluru and Lucknow to be 'Protected Systems'.

This falls under the Information Technology Act, of 2000. The change comes into force on the date of its publication in the official gazette, the notification said.


Separately, according to the Annual report 2021-22 of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Digital data collection, Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS), Code Directory Geospatial technology and other latest technologies are to be used in the next Census.

The MHA Annual report 2021-22 stated that Data collection in the forthcoming Census will be done digitally. An enumerator would collect and submit data directly through Mobile App, using her or his smartphone. The provision of a paper schedule is also kept in case of connectivity issues. In addition to this, it is also planned to have an online option for self-enumeration during both the phases of the Census i.e. House listing and Housing Census and Population Enumeration.

Several new initiatives have been taken towards facilitating Census operations using advanced Geospatial technology. The Pre-Census mapping activities include the preparation and updating of maps showing administrative units of the States/UTs, Districts, Sub-districts, Villages, Towns and Wards within Towns to ensure proper coverage of the entire geographical area of the country. Further, efforts are being made for the dissemination of Census results through web-based interactive maps. Preparatory work in this direction has already been initiated.

The 10-year census which should have happened by now got delayed due to the Covid outbreak. Hence, field activities and other related activities have been postponed until further orders.