Kashmir census to start on May 15

JAMMU - The census 2011 that began Thursday in several states of India will start in Jammu and Kashmir on May 15.

Farooq Ahmad, the director of census in Jammu and Kashmir, told IANS Thursday over telephone from Srinagar: The calendar of the two-phased census in Jammu and Kashmir was made in 2009 keeping in view climatic conditions and availability of staff.

There are many other parts of the country like Jammu and Kashmir where census begins on May 15.

According to Ahmad, the calendar was drawn keeping in mind the climatic conditions of remote mountainous areas of the state. A major portion of the state — an area of 2,101,437 sq km — is remote and mountainous. The total area of Jammu and Kashmir is 2,222,236 sq km out of which 79,000 sq km is under Pakistani control while 42,685 sq km is with China.

Over 33,000 officials will conduct the census that begins mid-May. The house counting and population count will be done in first phase that will go up to September. Then we will begin collecting photographs and fingerprinting for the bio-metric database, the director said.

We will count all, including the security force personnel, at the time of census. But the record of security force personnel will go to their respective areas, said Ahmad.

The population of Jammu and Kashmir, according to 2001 census, was slightly over 10 million.