The Union Home Ministry today sought the details of the Micro Level Survey planned across all the districts of Telangana on 19th of this month. In the wake of several complaints from political parties and people’s representatives, the Home Ministry asked the Telangana government to give complete details and objectives of the survey.
There are several doubts over this survey. While the Census Act 1948 authorizes the central government to undertake data collection, there is no such provision for states, as per experts and this attempt will only amount to impinging privacy of the citizens. Also they say the constitution does not allow State government to collect financial data like bank accounts etc. One more violation is the cancelling of Public transport that day all over the state.
Over 369,000 state government employees, including police and teachers, will conduct the survey across 10 districts of Telangana and survey 8.4 million households, according to government estimates. The Telangana government has already issued order allocating Rs.20 crore (Rs.2 crore for each district). Government is planning to wind up the entire exercise in 12 hours (8AM to 8PM on August 19th). The government is stubborn to complete it in a day so as to avoid duplication due to re-registrations if done on different days.
