Bihar caste-based survey | 2nd phase form ready, enumerators being trained; statisticians worry about data integrity

With the second phase of Bihar’s caste-based survey set to begin from April 15, training of field enumerators is on in full-swing

With the second phase of Bihar’s caste-based survey set to begin from April 15, training of field enumerators is on in full-swing.

The mobile app to be used in the second phase – Bijaga (Bihar Jaati Adharit Ganana) – is ready, with 17 columns and a list of 214 caste names, and senior district officials in each district have been briefed on the form. Statisticians are, however, worried about securing the integrity of the data they are supposed to collect, after being directed not to insist on any kind of verification documents.

Both the physical form for this part of the survey and the form on the mobile app have the same columns that provide for collecting personal details of residents, including caste name and religion along with a slew of socio-economic indicators.

While the Bihar government has touted the exercise as a first to be done on a mobile app, enumerators and district officials have been directed that the information needs to be collected on both the mobile app and the physical forms.

“The physical forms will have a unique barcode and form number each corresponding to each resident’s information on the app. We will also use the physical forms as a confirmatory step. Enumerators will have to upload a scanned copy of the form for each resident so information can be cross-checked,” a district official said.

Bihar’s General Administration Department (GAD) has decided to use a dropdown box for the listed caste names where the 214 caste names will be listed for enumerators to choose from.

Among these, 203 are Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and upper castes among Hindus and Muslims. Within this is also a separate code for transgender persons to check. In addition to this, 11 new castes have been added to the dropdown box based on independent reports from various districts.