In 1981 Census,
first time in Indian census, the data entry activities were decentralised and 15
data centres were setup in major states including at one at headquarters, ORGI.
Each centre was allotted more than one state (adjoining states) to convert paper-based
information into machine-readable form using “key to disk” machines provided by
GCS, ECIL & ICT. The data processing was done using HP1000, CD-Cyber 730 &
NEC-1000 computer systems at
NIC, New Delhi and Regional Computer Centre (RCC), Chandigarh. The in-house data
processing facilities were not available in ORGI.
The data schedules were coded at various regional tabulation centres throughout
India before sending the schedules for data entry
to allotted one of the 15 data centres. Around 1200 ORGI officers including
officers at 15 data centres, were engaged for the entire census data processing
activities. All the required software (for data validation, editing, processing
and tabulation) were developed by the officers of Data Processing Division, ORGI,
Headquarters.
During 1991 Census,
a drastic change in the data processing activities in ORGI was taken place. ORGI
had setup its own computing facility by installing Medha-930 main frame system at
DP Division, Pushpa Bhawan. Dump terminals, under Unix operating system, connected
to the servers at 15 data centres, were used for data entry.
Data movement between various data centers and Computer centre at Delhi was
done through magnetic tapes. The data schedules were coded at various regional tabulation
centres (about 163) throughout India before sending the schedules to the allotted
one of the 15 data centres for data entry. Master data files creation, data editing
on basic fields and lower level tabulations were processed at 4 Regional Processing
Centres namely Delhi, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneshwar (Orissa) and Chennai
(Tamil Nadu). Major editing considering all the fields, processing and generation
of all the tables at various levels were taken up in DP Division, ORGI, HQr. All
the required software (for data validation, editing, processing and tabulation)
were developed by the officers of Data Processing Division, ORGI, HQr. First time,
in the 1991 census, DP Division generated the camera ready copies of the tabulations
in Hindi as well as in English for publication. The cent percent data was captured.
The processing was done on the cent percent data of workers & SC/ST. Only 10
per cent records were processed for other tabulations. Around 1200 ORGI officers
including officers at 15 data centres were engaged for the entire census data processing
activities. The software were developed in-house by DP Division officers.
At 2001 census,
large scale hardware up-gradation had been made at 15 Data Centres and in DP Division,
New Delhi. This was required for using the latest “Automatic Form Processing Technology
using “Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR)” technology. The OMR/OCR/ICR technologies
were evaluated and ICR was found to be acceptable being the viable solution for
census data processing activities. IT resources were created at 15 data centres
by installing 45 NT servers, 1060 PIII PCs, 25 High speed heavy duty duplex scanners
(Kodak) and used backup devices like ZIP SLR & DLT drives. About 1200 technical
officers and about 500 contractual operators were engaged for electronically data
capturing at 15 data centres and processing of census data at DP Division, HQr.,
ORGI, New Delhi. The paper schedules were transported to the nearest allotted data
center (resulted in reduced transportation cost) for scanning and data file creation
activities. The scanning activities were carried out on 24x7x30 basis. The technology
enabled processing of cent percent data, that is, more than one billion records
(228 million paper forms were scanned) for the first time in census history. The
scanned images were archived for permanent storage. Image enabled Computer Assisted
Coding (CAC) was applied for certain fields. The use of ICR technology after scanning
the schedules and use of CAC (eliminated setting up of Regional Tabulation Centres
for manual coding) saved the Government lot of expenses incurred in the past on
setting up of Regional Tabulation Offices. The services of a System Integrator were
utilised at 15 Data Centres for scanning operations and data file creation. The
use of technology has helped to enhance the skills of EDP officers of ORGI. The
DP Division officers have developed the data processing software in-house.
The DP Division has assisted various Technical Divisions
of ORGI for data processing projects, such as:
-
Preparation of District Hand
Book ( Social Studies Division)
-
Large size village study
data entry and processing (Social Studies Division)
-
Extraction of data from 2001
census data and tabulation for slum project (Census Division)
-
Scanning and ICR based
processing for Verbal Autopsy (Vital Statistics Division)
-
Scanning and ICR based
processing for 5th Economic Census of Central Statistical
Organisation.
Technology Options
for Census 2011 Following Server Hardware and storage has been installed in
D.P. Division and in 15 Nos Data Centers in India for data processing activities-
:
1.HP ProLiant DL380G6 Quad Core Base Servers
2.HP Storage Works EVA6400, Capacity – 10/100 TB
3.Kodak High Speed Scanners