National Population Census 1971

1. Planning and Organization of the Census
   The legal provision for conducting periodic population censuses was made available in the Statistical Act 2015 dated 18 Marga 2015, of which clause number (4) has left the decision for compiling statistics on any topic to a written order, from His Majesty's Government. For each census conducted in Nepal by the Central Bureau of Statistics, a special Notice was issued in the Official Gazette defining the census organization, the responsibilities of the governmental and private institutions. They were to cooperate in an utmost and helpful manner with the Central Bureau of Statistics in providing all possible assistance to the Statistical Officers deputized by the C.B.S. for conducting the census.

Section (4) of the Statistical Act (2015) provides that "….HMG through a written Notice can order the compilation of data on any affair ………………to specify the schedules for the compilation of necessary information……………… and appoint or nominate authorized officers for the purpose of collecting such data ………………"

The Act obligates the individuals of any community under a written request to supply any information or data under their possession as specified in the order.

On the other hand, the Act has strictly guaranteed the confidentiality of all information provided to the officers, under section 8 ("………… the information collected under sections 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, regarding the individual family, household or company or parts thereof, should not be divulged, directly or indirectly, to any person except the Director or the Officers of Department without a written approval of the person concerned").This status closely follows the United Nation's recommendation for census legislation as set out in "Principles and Recommendations for National Population Censuses". (ST/STAT/SER.M/44) which state: "Legal authority for the census is required for fixing primary administrative responsibility, for obtaining the necessary funds, for determining
the general scope and timing o the census and for placing a legal obligation upon the public ………"."The principle of conceptual and organizational flexibility should be observed in drafting the census legislation. Thus, the inclusion of too rigid provisions regarding the type of data to be collected, or the structure and relationships of the various parts of the census organization are undesirable …………".

2. Preparation and Administration
   In the census of 1971, the 14 administrative zones of the kingdom were further divided into 17 census areas with a view to effect more efficient supervision and control of the field work, particularly in the rugged and remote zones of Karnali and Dhaulagiri, and also to ensure smooth and efficient enumeration. The subdivisions of zones into 75 districts were kept intact. In each of the 17 census areas, an officer from the C.B.S. was appointed to direct and conduct the census operations in that area, and was assisted by one non-gazetted Class I official, and other subordinates. Similarly, in each of the 75 districts, one non-gazetted Class I personnel was appointed as a supervisor of the field work. A number of 8-10 panchayat was assigned to each Kharidar (non-gazetted Class II) to carry out the preliminary household count in the specific household schedule. The household list has provided the frame for the individual enumeration. With the cooperation of Home Ministry a list of all town and village panchayat had been prepared, and all names were arranged alphabetically district wise for the purpose of coding.

Two sets of maps were prepared in collaboration with the concerned department. The first set including maps for zones to be used by zonal officers and the second set on district level to be used by district supervisors. All houses in town panchayats and only in big village panchayats were numbered six months before the census operation. In town panchayats each town was divided into blocks corresponding to some extent to the wards division and within each block houses were given two numbers .The first denotes the house serial number in the block and the second denotes the block's number. All preparatory work for the census was done by the C.B.S. officials. The Director was personally involved in supervising the field work of his officers and subordinates. This included flow of documents and transportation of personnel and materials. Altogether total of about 12,500 supervisors and enumerators were employed temporarily.

3. Recruitment and Training of Personnel
   Due to the fact that there exists a large number of linguistic and tribal communities, it was felt more practical to recruit and train local people in each enumeration area, than to recruit personnel at the center, and send them later to the field. The Zonal Officers, their assistants, and a large number of Kharidars were all recruited at the center and trained rigorously, and the census schedule was pre-tested in two village panchayats and an urban sector. Further, the zonal officers established 17 training centers in the census areas to train the appointed 12,000 enumerators. It should be noted that due to the volume of work, the dispersion of localities and the low rate of literacy, the minimum qualification required for recruiting an enumerator were his abilities to read and write.

The household list was prepared by the Kharidars and kept in the district census office for further check with the individual forms filled in by the enumerators. Any discrepancy between the two schedules was to be verified on the spot by the census supervisor.