The Modi-led government today released a paperless Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC). A census of this kind was last released in 1932, i.e. eight decades ago. Conducted under the overall authority of the Department of Rural Development, the census was carried out by door-to-door enumeration across the country, and the key data about different segments of the society was then listed under different categories. The SECC release states all the categorization was done according to the data revealed by the household to the enumerator.
1) 24.39 crore is the total number of households in India
2) 17.91 crore is the total number of rural households in the country
3) 9.16 crore households earn their income from casual manual labour
4) 5.39 crore households earn their income from cultivation
5) 4.21 crore is the number of households sans any literate member above the age of 25 years
6) 2.37 crore is the number of houses with kuccha walls or roof
7) 65.15 lakh is the number of households without an adult member between the age of 18 and 59 years
8) 44.84 lakh households said their income comes from full-time/part-time domestic service
9) 7.16 lakh is the total number of households with a differently-abled member without any other abled adult in the house
10) 6.68 lakh households reported begging/charity or alms as their main source of income
11) 4.08 lakh households listed ragpicking as the main source of income
Viewed indiividually, these numbers are shocking. This categorization will now be used by the government for efficient implementation of its key policies. The Ministry of Rural Development has said that it will use this SECC data in all its programmes, to reach out to each categories and provide solutions according to their needs. The government will use the data for better implementation of Housing for All scheme, MGNREGA, National Food and Security Act, and so on.
