Kolkata: The self-enumeration exercise of India's 16th Census kicked off in West Bengal on Saturday, with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari filling up his own form digitally.
The window for the first phase of the once-in-a-decade population survey will remain open from August 1 to August 15, during which people can upload their details on the portal se.census.gov.in.
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This will be followed by a house-listing exercise from August 16 to September 14.
Describing the exercise as the country's first "100 per cent digital" Census, Adhikari urged people across West Bengal to participate in the survey and cooperate with the authorities.
"I urge every person across West Bengal to cooperate with the authorities involved with the process and participate via self-enumeration in this Census," he said.
Seeking to allay privacy concerns, the chief minister said the Census was "absolutely secret" and legally protected.
"Data collected will be used only for statistics, planning and development. There is no scope for any form of misuse of personal information in this Census," Adhikari said.
