Census Of India Punjab And Delhi

· 1923 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

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2PUNJAB CENSUS REPOBT, 1921 .

3House-

4Numbering.

5The Pre-

6State were appointed fortlinntli, and general village and town registers were pre-

7pared on wHcli to base tbe formation of census divisions.

8Census 6. Tlie wliole countryside was parcelled out into blocks in wliicb the-

9Division and gjiixt^eration could be carried out by one enumerator ; these blocks were grouped

10Agency. circles under supervisors, and the circles again grouped in charges imder charge

11superintendents. The existing revenue divisions were very generally followed in

12fiiang the boundaries of charges and circles, and the revenue agency was largely

13employed as Superintendents and Supervisors. These divisions were first fixed

14roimhly and then ^e^ased after the completion of house-numbering showed where

15mistakes had been made in estimating the suitable' boundaries for blocks ; ulti-

16mately at the time of the final census there were 172,044 blocks, 13,943 circles

17and 1,017 charges, and the enumeration was carried out by 104,425 enumerators

18under the direction of 13,913 supervisors and 999 charge superintendents. Most

19of the supervising staff was recruited from amongst officials, whilst the enumera-

20tors were in the main volimtary non-official woihers ; all were appointed indivi-

21dually under the Census Act and thus all gained the statiis of public servants.

227. The Census Divisions having been tentativel}’’ fixed the next step v\ as

23the numbering of all houses, tliis work was commenced on 15th September and

24completed witlun two months. Each house vviiich might be occupied on the census

25night vv^as clearly marked with a number, a separate series of luunbeis being kept

26for each circle, iiiis work was carried out by the supervisors. As a result just

27over eight milhon houses were numbered, but to ensure that no person should

28escape enumeration many buildings were numbered which were not inhabited on

29the census night, and oir that night it was found that onl}’ a little over five and a

30half million vv^ere inhabited. This numbering formed a reliable basis for the supply

31of forms, and after it was completed the census divisions vv'eie revised and fixed

32finally.

338. In July a complete issue of the Ceirsus Code had been published and this

34iiminary was followed in August by a pamphlet of instructions for Charge Superintendents

35Enumeration, Supervisors ; short instructions for enumerators were printed on the covers

36of the actual enumeration books.

37During the progress of house-numbering the whole staff received training

38in their duties ; starting from the top each census officer instructed the officers

39immediately, subordinate to him so that the instructions drifted down from the

40Provincial Sirperintenderrt to the enirmerators. Test eirrrmeratiorrs formed the

41main part of the training.

42The prelimirrary enumeration took place betw'een the 1st February till the

431st March in rural tracts, in tovvms it was both comnrenced arrd finished a fortnight

44later. At this enumeration all persons likely to be in residence orr the 18th March

45were entered up in the enumeration books ; this procedure allowed ample time

46for the careful recording and checldng of all entries and reduced the wmrk at the

47final census to a minimum. The enumeration book consisted of a cover,containirrg

48instructions and forms of summaries to be filled up and detached after the census ;

49a block list, which was a detailed list of the houses in the block and serv’^ed to pre-

50vent any buildings being overlooked either at the preliminary or final enumera-

51tion ; and a sufficient number of general schedules on wliich the actual particular

52concerning each person were recorded.

539. The final census took place between 7 and 12 o'clock on ihe night of

54the 18th March, every enumerator visited all the houses in liis block and corrected

55his enumeration book by striking out entiies referring to people who were found

56to have left since the prehminary recoid had been prepared and by adding entries

57for all new^-comers. This having been completed every enti^" in the book w^as

58giv^en a serial number— -the number of occupied houses, persons, males and females

59was totalled for the block, then for the circle and then for the charge. The charge

60summaries w'ere totalled for the district or town at district headquarters and then

61telegraphed to Lahore and Simla.

6210. The general schedule w'as a tabular statement of lines and columns

63with a line for each person enumerated and a column for the record of each parti-

64cular regarding him. In a few ^places, where Europeans were nrmierous and it

65was possible to obtain the services of an English-spealdng enumerator, these

66forms were used in English for the recording of Europeans ; but in general Euro-

67peans are foimd in small numbers in blocks containing many Indians and in sirch

68cases the enumerator could not be expected to fill up entries concerning them in a

69The Final

70Census.

71Usft of

72Houieliold

73Schedules.