Now I am going to talk something about "Population Information System", with the emphasis on various organizations which are providing the population data and under what categories they are putting those data and in what way. But before that lets see some of the basic statistics related to population;

* According to the population estimates released by the UN, the world has crossed 6 billion mark long back on October 12, 1999.

* Every second five people are born and two people die, that means a net gain of three person per second.

* At this rate, the world population is doubling every 40 years and would be:-

• 12 billion in 40 years
• 24 billion in 80 years
• 48 billion in 120 years
• and so on.

* About 1 lakh 40 thousand (1,40,000) people die/day

Among them 30, 000 are childrens of age under 5.

50, 000 people die from infection.

35, 000 from Cardiovascular illness.

15, 000 from Cancer.

10, 000 from Violent deaths

10, 000 children from Diorrhea and

1, 000 Women die in child birth.

But the UN report says that, the recent global population growth is not the consequence of increased birth rates but of an unprecedented decrease in death rates. The source for all these population data is POPIN, that is " Population Information Network".

First of all I would like to consider the Indian population and Census of India because India constitutes about 1/6^th to 1/7^th of the world population. It is the second largest populous country after China. Now India has crossed One Billion mark on 11^th May i.e. previous month.

The Indian Census which is held decenially is one of the largest administrative exercise of its kind in the world. It involves the recruitment, training, supervision of about one and a quarter million enumerators and enumeration of about one seventh of the global population. As a source of information, Census of India is the source of maximum data on characteristics of human population.

The Rate of increase in population in India, between July 1999 and June 2000, as provided by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, was as follows:-

Per Year – 1 crore 55 lakhs 31 thousands (15,531,000)

Per Month – 12 Lakhs 73 thousand 33 (1,273,033)

Per Day – 42 thousand 434 (42,434)

Per hour – 1,768.

Per minute – 29.

The 2001 census is the 14^th Census after the operation began in 1872 and the sixth since independence. However, the first census(1872) was not a complete enumeration as it was conducted in some of the states during different points of time. From 1881, a census has been conducted in India every ten years. A permanent legislation, Census of India act (Act No. 37 of 1948) empowered the Government to appoint a Census Commissioner at centre and Director of census operation in different states. The law made it obligatory on the part of the Indian citizens to answer the census questioned. The 2001 census compilation started with the first phase, i.e. house-listing, an 18 day exercise. During this phase, each enumerator would cover 250 houses and collect information such as building structures, amenities and house numbers. This would be followed by the second phase, which would be utilized for population enumeration from February 9 to March 5,2001. The whole census exercise this time will cost the exchequer about Rs.30 Crores.

The development activities have increased the demand for census data. As a result the scope and coverage of Indian censuses held during 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1991 have expanded enormously in terms of details of information with the help of extended tabulation programmes. The number of volumes disseminating census data have also been increasing for every decennial census.

In the entire census operation, three distinct phases are identified- data collection, data processing and dissemination of results. Since the quantum of work involved in these phases is gigantic in nature, the completion of all the phases in a census takes more than a decade and it involves the participation of a number of census spread all over the country. Now lets see the significant improvements in the Censuses conducted in the Post-Independence Period, from this transparency;

* The 1991 Census data has been released in the following series of tables;

A Series General Population Tables

B Series General Economic Tables

C Series Social and Cultural Tables

D Series Migration Tables

F Series Fertility Tables

H Series Tables on Houses and Household Amenities

SC Series Special Tables for Scheduled Castes

ST Series Special Tables for Scheduled Tribes

Special Tables for Ex-Servicemen

Village and Town Directories

The policy regarding dissemination of Census data to users include many questions such as in what form the data are to be published, how to organize the reports and how much support in the form of bibliographical services etc. is to be provided to the users so that they can identify and use data. In India, census data is primarily disseminated through printed tables that constitute census volumes. These volumes are planned by the census organization at the centre as well as in state, and their contents are reflected in the titles of the volumes. The criteria applied for deciding the contents of a volume are, (i.) geographical coverage, and (ii) demographic characteristics. Keeping in view of these two aspects, the census volumes are released in different series and parts as shown in the following Transparency:-

India is the only country where census is conducted door-to-door and in other countries population estimate is being made by either through questionnaires(USA) or by calling the people at one Booth/centre(Germany). So the Indian census results are much more authentic than the other countries.

For the world population data POPIN is one of the reliable source. POPIN means Population Information Network which is being established on 9^th May 1979, by the resolution 1979/33 of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It commenced operations in January 1981.

The objectives of POPIN is to identify, establish, strengthen and coordinate population information activities at international, regional and national levels; to facilitate and enhance the availability of population information in collaboration with the regional commissions, the specialized agencies and the NGO population community; and to provide a forum for the exchange of experiences among developed and developing countries on population information issues.

POPIN is a decentralized community of population institutions organized into regional and national networks in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Northern America. Plans are underway for the establishment of a population information network for Western Asia. The POPIN community includes governmental, intergovernmental and non- governmental organizations working at the national, subregional or international level. The global POPIN Coordinating Unit is located within the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) of the United Nations Secretariat.

The POPIN work programme is guided by the POPIN Advisory/Coordinating Committee, consisting of representatives from the United Nations regional commissions and specialized agencies, Governments and non-governmental organizations. The Chairman of the Advisory Committee is the Director of the Population Division. Technical and operational aspects of network activities are coordinated by the global POPIN Coordinating Unit in consultation with the regional POPINs.

POPIN is mainly funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The generation and dissemination of information have been the most important tasks of the United Nations since its foundation in 1945. These tasks has gained importance as we entered the twenty first century – this new millenium is characterized by the vast improvements in the field of IT and Communication.

These changes hold many implications for the dissemination of development information, especially in the regional field of population. As a regional commission that serves Governments representing about 58% of the world’s people, population issues obviously are paramount importance to ESCAP and its various development efforts.

Indeed this Secretariat took a leadership role with the organization of the first intergovernmental conference of its kind on population issues, i.e. the first Asian population conference, held at New Delhi in 1963.

The most recent such meeting was the fourth Asia and Pacific Population Conference held in 1992, which adopted the Bali declaration on population and sustainable development.

Based on such a successful track record, ESCAP, plans to continue inspiring a sense of urgency about population and poverty alleviation issues while helping the developing countries of the vast Asian and Pacific region to become ever more self reliant in dealing with those issues.

Among the ways these tasks will be accomplished is through the activities of Asia-Pacific POPIN. Because population data and information constitutes, the foundation on which the entire edifice of socioeconomic planning is based, such activities are essential for the formulation of effective population and development policies and the implementation of achievable programmes.

For the dissemination of information regarding population, POPIN provides information services and publishes some of the bulletins and newsletters. Some of the important information services are: -

(e) EBIS POPFILE bibliographic database of citations to Asia- Pacific population literature. Produced by the Population Division of ESCAP. Available online at ESCAP and on diskette on request. For national databases, please contact Asia-Pacific POPIN.

(f) POPIN-Africa bibliographic database of citations to African population literature. Produced by PADIS and previously by the Population Division (POPIN-Africa project) of ECA. Available online at PADIS or on diskette on request.

(g) POPIN Internet World Wide Web site. Includes statistical tables, software, official documentation of the International Conference on Population and Development and the United Nations Commission on Population and Development, fulll POPIN Coordinating Unit, Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, New York, in collaboration with the regional commissions, the UNFPA, the specialized agencies and the worldwide population community.

The address of the POPIN WWW site is: http://www.undp.org/popin

The few important publications of POPIN are: -

http://www.unescap.org/pop/popin/index.htm.

At the end of my talk I would like to give some of the important statistics related to population, like

Every year about one Australia is being added to India’s population and about one Germany is added to the worlds population.

In the conclusion I will say that,