The Government of India, co-ordinated by Ministry of Rural Development has initiated Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011) in the Country.  The Socio Economic Survey for identification of BPL families is done both in rural and urban areas.  The information about caste and religion of the person will also be collected during this Census and this information, unlike other information of this Census, will not be made public and will be used by Registrar General of India for statistical purpose for socio-economic profiling of various castes in India.

            Financial and technical support is provided by Ministry of Rural Development and SECC, 2011 is being conducted by the State Administration under the guidance of Ministry of Rural Development.  It is a paperless exercise in which data is captured on a hand held device (Tablet PC) supplied by Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) Bangalore.  Directorate of Census Operations has supported the SECC 2011 by providing Training and Enumeration Block wise (EB), Abridged House list (AHL) and the layout Map to the Enumerators.  The house list data captured in National Population Register (NPR) have been preloaded in the hand held device.  The Enumerator appointed by the State Government and the Data-Entry Operator trained by the BEL had conducted the actual survey in the field.  District Collector is the Principal SECC-2011 Officer (PSO) for the entire district and the survey has been done under his/her overall supervision.

            Information that needs to be collected at the level of the individual and household includes Occupation, Education, Disability, Religion, SC/ST status, Name of Caste/Tribe, Employment, Income and source of income, Assets, Housing, Consumer durables / non-Durables and Land.  The Socio-Economic and Caste Census will also capture the housing status, employment characteristics, educational status, disability among the household members, landholding pattern, etc.  The Census would be based on a self declaration model of the respondents, (as per the questionnaire prescribed by the Government of India).  The enumerators had recorded the declaration of the respondents and where they found that the response was prima facie incorrect, they had entered their remarks regarding the same and the Supervisor had mandatorily visited these houses and verified the veracity of the information. Detailed procedure for filing claims and objections and its disposal has to be followed. The information would be verified and approved by the Gram Sabha.  Initially, the draft list will be published and at the end of 31st day in rural areas and 52nd day in urban areas, the final list will be published and uploaded in the website.

           The Government of India has allocated   Rs. 89.61 crore for the conduct of SECC in Tamil Nadu.  The preparatory works relating to SECC started in Tamil Nadu during December, 2011 after the conclusion of ordinary elections to the Local Bodies and the entire process of enumeration and supervisory verification was completed by September 2012.  The additional procedure of verification and correction of database using the software, introduced by the Government of India in November 2012, was also completed.  Now, the Government of India has issued certain technical clarification on draft publication which is  being attended by Bharat  Electronics  Limited, Bangalore. The entire  process  is  expected  to be over by June 2013.