The 2021 Census will collect data in multi-mode manner, using not only paper-and-pen, but also mobile devices. ORGI is developing an App.

For the first time in the 140 year history of the census in India, data is proposed to be collected through a mobile app and enumerators would be encouraged to use their own phone, the Home Ministry said Tuesday. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba described the Census 2021 as the world's largest enumeration exercise. A total of 33 lakh enumerators, the persons who conduct door to door counting, would be mobilised for data collection for which notification has already been issued, he said at a conference of census data users here. The reference date is October 1, 2020, for Jammu and Kashmir and snow bound areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand while for the rest of country it is March 1, 2021.

For the first time in the 140 year history of census in India, data is proposed to be collected through a mobile app and?enumerators would be encouraged to use their own mobile phone, officials of Registrar General of India said at the conference which was held to finalise the strategy and questionnaire for the Census 2021.The enumerators would be paid appropriate remuneration. There is also an option to collect and record the data through paper schedules which will eventually be submitted electronically by them.

The home secretary said census is not just an exercise of head count but it also provides invaluable socio-economic data which forms credible basis for informed policy formulation and allocation of resources. The changing demographics and socio-economic parameters reflected by the census helps in reformulation of country's plans for the economic development and welfare schemes for its people, he said. Gauba said the census data caters to the constitutional requirement of delimitation of constituencies and reservation of seats for SCs and STs.