10 years down the line...

2001 Census fiasco still haunts
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 30 2010: Still smarting under the fiasco of the Census of 2001, in which certain pockets of the hill districts registered abnormal growth, while negative growths were registered in some parts of the valley areas, which had led to the possibility of implementing the Delimitation exercise in the State, before the 2002 Assembly election, Chief Minister O Ibobi is not taking any chances to avoid a similar goof up or controversy.

In the first phase of the Census exercise for the year 2011, which started from June 1 this year, a similar growth trajectory has been recorded in Paomata, Purul and Mao-Maram sub divisions.

In 2001, the growth pattern of the population in these places was dubbed as abnormal and accordingly, the delimitation exercise, which was to be implemented according to the last Census has been put on hold till 2025 .

Abnormal growth in the encircled areas

Speaking to The Sangai Express a senior Minister in the SPF Government today said that to ensure that there are no glitches or goof-ups, Chief Minister O Ibobi convened a meeting at his office chamber today.

Other than the Council of Ministers, the review meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary, the Deputy Commissioners, SDOs, SDCs, officials of the Home Department and Director of Census Operation, where reports of the first of the three phased process was discussed.

Under the instructions of the Chief Minister, process to verify the report of the first phase has been taken up.

Another fresh development that has come as something of a surprise or shock is the finding that seven villages in Tadubi sub-division have never been covered even once by the Census exercise all these years.

To get a clear picture of this, the Chief Minister has ordered a spot verification, said the senior Minister.

Making it clear that responsibilities would be fixed in case of any short comings, the Chief Minister said that if any discrepancies are found in the photos, thumb impression etc of the villagers at a latter stage, then all the officials concerned would be held responsible, said the senior SPF Minister.

In the interiors of Churachandpur district, human migration is probably responsible for some startling findings, said the Minister and added that while some villages had no inhabitants, some saw a sharp dip in population when compared to the last Census.

This may be linked to the rapid rise in the population in the district headquarters of Churachandpur, he added.

According the findings of the first phase, the growth rate in the hill districts has been projected at 29 percent, while in the valley areas, the growth rate has been estimated to be between 14 pc to 17 pc.

This is against the growth rate of 22 pc, recorded for the whole country.