Census 2021 will for the first time seek information from households on smartphones, DTH/Cable TV connection, internet access, number of members of households having bank accounts, ownership of house other than the rented accommodation of a household, bottled water availability and mobile number as part of the house listing procedure.
The Census 2021 house listing questionnaire will no longer seek a breakup of male and female persons in a household.
Importantly it will not collect caste dataand will have a listing for third gender.
Another fresh inclusion mainly pertains to new categories of disabilities as per the latest definition.
The data collected during the 2021 Census will be stored electronically, the first time since the decennial exercise was conducted in 1951 in Independent India.