National Population Census 1961

Nepal has a long history of Census taking. The first population Census of Nepal was taken in 1911 and this practice was continued roughly every ten years. However, there is some evidence to show that a population count in one form or another took place even before 1911. An enumeration covering adult males reportedly took place during the regime of Bhimsen Thapa (1806-1838). This was possibly done with a view to recruiting adult men into the army. The existence of a Guthi (Coop­erative Society) indicates the practice of counting houses in Kathmandu Valley even before the Bhimsen Thapa period (1806-I838). However, these censuses were conducted for limited purposes and were also confined to small areas of the country. Even the scope of four censuses (1911, 1920, 1930 and 1941) which were conducted during the Rana Regime (1846-1950) was also limited. Although, these censuses used a short census schedule to collect information on the name of the head of the household, age of persons by sex, occupation, ability to work, number of live­stock and means of transportation, the final results were presented in aggregates, i.e. head counts only.

The first scientific census taken in the modern sense of the term started with the 1952/54 census which was conducted in two parts of the country separated by two years in tine. The eastern part of the country with the exception of Mahottari district was covered in 1952. Mahottari district was counted along with the rest of the country in 1954.

The need for a separate organization for conducting censuses was realized only at the time of the first modern census of 1952/54 and accordingly, a central office was set up to carry out the tasks­ of census taking. Under the Central Office separate field offices and sub-divisional offices were created for the purpose of conducting censuses. The field level offi­cers were in charge of recruiting and training the enumerators. In 1952/54 village chiefs and revenue agents acted as enumerators. Their work was supervised and thoroughly checked by trained wor­kers (supervisors) employed by the census organization temporarily for this purpose.

Village chiefs and land revenue collectors/agents were also involved in the tasks of census taking in 1961. Village chiefs (Mukhiyas) and revenue agents (Patwaris) acted either as enumerators or assisted in the tasks of field super­visors. The supervisors were recruited from local people in each district and had been given theoretical and practical training at the same district headquarters. There was one supervisor on average for each census sub-zone. The tasks of a supervisor were closely scrutinized by a section officer deputed to each census zone. In 1961, 15,933 enumerators were involved in the tasks of census taking. The fifty-five (55) administrative districts of the time were divided into 18 census zones and 102 sub-zones comprising 456 census areas and 28,400 villages. The village was the unit of enumeration in 1961 but the district was the smallest unit for which data was made available.