The ambitious Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) appears nowhere near completion even after missing the December 2011 deadline. While the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, is likely to begin the exercise only by end of this month, progress in others states appears too slow to suggest that it would be wrapped up anytime soon.
West Bengal has covered only 18 per cent of the population so far, while the census has just been launched in Kerala. The progress in Bihar, Maharashtra and other big states are stated not to be encouraging. The Census data would be utilised to arrive at numbers of beneficiaries for the proposed Food Security Bill apart from fulfilling demands of political parties for caste head counts.
Union minister of rural development Jairam Ramesh has written to the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, seeking her intervention to expedite the enumeration of the people in the state. Mr Ramesh has stated in the letter that while the deadline to wrap up the SECC in West Bengal was April the pace of enumeration suggests that it could not be completed before July end.
When asked when could the census be completed at the national level, Mr Ramesh said that he was hopeful that the exercise would be completed by July end. However, senior officials in the ministry of rural development appear less optimistic and stated that the enumeration of the people could extend beyond July also. Some of the states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, officials said, are not taking keen interest in expediting the enumeration of the people for the census. Mr Ramesh is hopeful that the SECC enumeration exercise would begin in Uttar Pradesh by end of this month and completed by July end. However, UP could take much longer time.