The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented the Census Medals for extraordinary performance at the Census 2011 at a function at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi today (January 11, 2013).

The President congratulated all the Census medal winners and said that informed decision making has to be based on empirical data and census is the only source of data that provides information on various individual characteristics right up to village level for rural areas and ward level for urban areas. He hoped with the latest technology adopted by Census Organization for data dissemination, Census results would be accessible quickly to all the stakeholders in the remotest corner of the country.

The President stated that census taking in India is a very challenging task, in view of its multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society. The unique feature of Census 2011 is that Schedules for preparation of National Population Register (NPR) were also canvassed along with Houselisting Schedules, he added.

Ever since the holding of the first Census of India after Independence, it has been the tradition with the Census Organization to award Silver and Bronze medals and Certificate(s) of Honour from the President of India to various Census functionaries, viz., Enumerators, Supervisors, Charge Officers etc. in recognition of their outstanding zeal, high quality of work and devotion to duty during the Census taking.