India's Census-Taking Kicks Off - Screw Privacy Advocates (Corrupt People)

India is kicking off an unprecedented effort to enumerate 1.2 billion people. The count is also meant to gather data for an equally ambitious project to give every Indian a unique identification card.

The number of Indian census takers alone - 2.5 million - outnumbers the entire population of some small countries. They will be fanning out across what is the world's seventh largest and second most populous nation.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidabaram calls the task unprecedented. He is appealing to everyone in India to voluntarily participate. "An exercise of this kind has not been attempted anywhere else in the world. This exercise must succeed. This exercise will succeed. But we need your cooperation and support," said Chidabaram.

The first census taker for the once-every-decade count showed up at the presidential palace to start the initial process, known as "house-listing."

President Pratibha Patil was the first person out of an estimated 1.2 billion to be counted.

The census takers will record such details as what peoples' houses are made of, whether they have toilets and access to drinking water and even if they have a mobile telephone or an Internet connection. To try to count everyone, they are supposed to venture into such hazardous places as remote forests under the control of rebel Maoists.

The census takers are also required to tabulate the homeless wherever they can find them, such as on railway platforms and under bridges.

For the first time, everyone who is registered will be photographed and fingerprinted. That data will be used to issue national identity cards, in the next several years. The cards are supposed to help the poor, who may have no other means of identification to open bank accounts and to obtain government benefits. Government officials say the cards will cut fraud. But privacy advocates are raising concerns, arguing that the program could give rise to intrusive government surveillance of citizens.

India's census-taking tradition dates back to the British colonial era, when the first enumeration was conducted in 1872. Since then it has been conducted about once every decade.

Charles Darwin

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

Joke of the day !

The female dormitory will be out-of-bounds for all male students, so too the male dormitory to the female students. Anybody caught breaking this rule will be fined $20 the first time. Anybody caught breaking this rule the second time will be fined $60. Being caught a third time will incur a hefty fine of $180. Are there any questions?"
At this, a male student in the crowd inquires, "Er... How much for a season pass?"

Joke of the day!

A New York lawyer went duck hunting in eastern North Carolina. He shot and dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer's field on the other side of a fence. As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an older man asked him what he was doing. The lawyer responded, "I shot a duck and it fell in this field, I'm going to retrieve it."
The old farmer replied. "This is my property, and you are not coming over here."
The indignant lawyer said, "I am one of the best trial attorneys in the U.S. and, if you don't let me get that duck, I'll sue you and take everything!
The old farmer smiled and said, "Apparently, you don't know how we do things here in North Carolina. We settle small disagreements like this with the NC Three-Kick Rule."
The lawyer asked, "What is the NC three-Kick Rule?"
The Farmer replied. "Well, first I kick you three times and then you kick me three times, and so on, back and forth, until someone gives up."
The New York attorney quickly thought about the proposed contest and decided that he could easily take the old southerner. He agreed to abide by the local custom.
The old farmer slowly climbed down from the tractor and walked up to the city feller. His first kick planted the toe of his heavy work boot onto the lawyer and dropped him to his knees. His next two kicks caused the lawyer so much pain that he just about gave up. However, the New York lawyer summoned every bit of his will and managed to get to his feet and said, "Okay, you old redneck southerner, now it's my turn."
The old North Carolina farmer smiled and said, "Naw, I give up. You can have the duck."