Adilabad, February 14: Do not get irritated by the hurried manner in which your census enumerator goes about his work. He is only trying to finish his part of the job before launch of pro-Telangana non-cooperation movement by employees in the region.
“A little bit of extra work every day will see us through early. One cannot say what kind of complications will arise following beginning of non-cooperation on February 17,” says a cautious A. Srihari, summing up the opinion of many an enumerator busy in Census 2011 work especially in urban areas of Adilabad district. Shaikh Ali and his wife Afreen Qamar Fatima, carrying out enumeration respectively in over 100 households each of Hameedpura and Bhuktapur localities are a step ahead. They will complete the proforma filling by February 14 itself.
Mental botheration
Like Mr. Srihari, this husband and wife team also does not want to be weighed down by the mental botheration caused by unfinished work. Thankfully, the higher rate of literacy in urban areas has facilitated speedy work for them and others who hold the same view.
“Though we too want to complete the work as soon as possible it is not so easy to do so in rural areas. Unlike our urban counterparts, we need to revisit a majority of the households due to the head of the family not being present,” points out A. Venugopal, an enumerator at Gudihatnoor mandal headquarters.
Mr. Venugopal says teachers in rural areas should be given ample time to carry out Census work. He says they find it difficult to teach in the forenoon session and go for enumeration in the afternoon. Mr. Srihari, who is surveying in parts of Sundaraiahnagar and Khursheednagar localities, says the work of an urban enumerator is easier as residents of town are less apprehensive about divulging personal information. “In the countryside, citizens reveal such information very grudgingly which eats away about 30 minutes of his time in filling up the enumeration proforma,” adds Mr. Venugopal.
–Agencies