New Delhi: Census enumerators are being asked to go back and “review” data they have collected, if it does not tally with government data, particularly in fields such as “open defecation”, usage of fuel such as wood, dung cakes, crop residue, kerosene, etc., being recorded for households having LPG connections, especially in urban areas; and for the drinking water section, the option of “tap water from treated source” not being recorded for most households. An enumerator is cited by The Hindu as saying that they have been asked to not “select options that may show the government in poor light”.It is noteworthy that examples picked of open defecation free (ODF) data, LPG and tapped water, tally coincidentally with Modi government’s several flagship drives and claims of making India ODF (open-defecation-free), Ujwala for LPG and the Jal Jeevan Mission for tap water. Many of these schemes have led to questions about data collection and sustainability in the past as well.In written communication to district officers issued on June 2, which The Hindu has seen, the director of Census Operations, Rajasthan, has made these points to ensure that what enumerators tick, eventually tallies with government data.The much delayed national census, the largest exercise in the world, is being conducted after 16 years. Since 1871, it was an uninterrupted decadal exercise which was broken this year for the first time in 2021. The Modi government cited Covid-19 as a reason for not being able to conduct it, but the terms of the census and its many political uses have often come under scrutiny since.A senior Census official told the newspaper, “The letter was issued to ensure that actual field conditions are recorded without any ambiguity or lack of understanding, and without any communication gap between the household and the enumerator. Discrepancies found after field verification by Charge Officers, Sub-Divisional Census Officers, Principal Census Officers, District Coordinators, Officers of Census Directorate, etc., must be addressed. The quality of data/information should not be affected due to ambiguity or lack of clarity or preconceived notion.”Several other enumerators spoke about this, one from Rajasthan is quoted as saying, “In the mobile app, if we enter that a household has a tin roof, we are asked by our superiors to change it to concrete. Are we supposed to lie? Similarly, if the house does not have a toilet and occupants are defecating in the open, we are told to check if there is a toilet nearby, even that of a neighbour or a relative, which they may be using occasionally or even a public urinal. Then the entry can be changed from ‘open defecation’ to having access to a toilet.”Another one from Uttar Pradesh corroborated being asked to choose options carefully and told The Hindu, “Being government officials, we have been asked not to select options that may show the government in a poor light.”This is supposed to be independent India’s first caste census, but no further details have been made available so far. The. Census is meant to be conducted in two states, and the first stage, Houselisting Operations (HLO) has been on since April 1. The next stage is the Population Census. 32 lakh enumerators are entering the records on their personal phones on a mobile application developed by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India’s office, which is tasked to conduct the census every ten years. This is India’s first ‘digital’ census.