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J&K decides to press on with census

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Amidst cynicism, the Jammu and Kashmir government decided on Friday to provide security cover to the 22,000 state employees and related staff involved in the stalled census operations.

Earlier, the director of census operations, Jammu and Kashmir, had appealed to the separatist Hizbul Mujahideen to withdraw its threat of violence against the census staff.

The census, being conducted after 20 long years, has generated much controversy and is currently stalled in the valley. The Hizb has banned the operation, arguing that "in the prevailing situation there is no possibility of a 'fair and credible census' in the Kashmir valley". It has asked the 22,000 enumerators to dissociate themselves from census duties.

Former Union environment minister Prof Saifuddin Soz too has alleged that "demographic changes are being brought about by manipulating census data". Soz alleged that from the first census operations in the state in 1951, data collected over the years indicates a steady decline in the state's Muslim population.

At a high-level meeting in Srinagar on Friday, presided over by Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitley and attended by Director General of Police Gurbachan Jagat and other senior officers, the authorities worked out a strategy to go ahead with the second and final phase of the census operations "at all costs".

All enumerators and other related staff will be provided security. And if need be, the time limit for the operations will be extended as per the provisions of the census law.

"We have completed the major work in this regard and the remaining work will be completed so as to get necessary data vital for planning and welfare strategy for various areas," a government spokesman said.

The government, the spokesman said, had taken a serious view of the "lackadaisical response from some enumerators". He, however, claimed that census operations were continuing in the Jammu and Ladakh regions of the state.

Jaitley promised that the necessary logistics support and security would be provided to the census staff. Necessary instructions, he said, "have been issued to the deputy commissioners of various districts for completing the census work".

Commenting on the government's decision, a census official, on condition of anonymity, said, "We are still awaiting a response from the state government whether they can hold the operations. It is for the state government to decide, but it is difficult to go door-to-door with security guards."

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