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Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) project aimed at gathering household and individual level data throughout India. It transcended the normal statistical process of data collection as is done world over in either census or sampling modes. As the objective of SECC is mainly to facilitate strict correspondence between the targeted government benefits and intended individuals and households, the privacy and secrecy concerns of survey units are put to public scrutiny, but with appropriate care given to those respondents who want to maintain their own privacy. Therefore, SECC had gone beyond a normal statistical exercise and encapsulated various dimensions of a complex socio-political process.

The book explains the way the SECC project was executed. Many lessons were learned while executing the project and, that was probably one of the valuable learning outcomes derived by its implementers. Written by a handful of SECC project key executioners, it compiles key features and challenges of the project and captures the contributions made by thousands of individuals and institutions. This volume would be a useful reading for students and practitioners of management, statistics, demography, public policy, administration, sociology, and social sciences.

Contents: Preface. Introduction. I. Census Operation: Background, Methods, Processes and Practices: 1. Socio-economic and Caste Census: Beneficiary Identification through Multidimensional Deprivations and Vulnerabilities in India— Capacity Building and Knowledge Management/Joseph Abraham. 2. SECC in Urban Areas/Sudhir Kumar Tewari and N.K. Sahu.3. Caste Data Collection in SECC/Purnendu K. Banerjee and Joseph Abraham. 4. Transparency, Accountability and Public Participation in SECC/Joseph Abraham. II. Project Management: 5. Stakeholders Galore/N.K. Sahu. 6. The Moving Target: Independent Monitoring of SECC by Third Party Agencies/N.K. Sahu. 7. A Step towards Gender Integration/Savita Kulkarni. III. Technology Support System: 8. Introduction of Tablet Personal Computer for Household Census in India/Santhi Sozhan and Tej Tarun Mahindra. 9. Software Development for SECC: The Challenge of Meeting Multiple Demands/Tej Tarun Mahindra. 10. National Population Register: SECC Data Merging Procedure and Consequences/Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee. 11. Database Management and MIS of SECC: Tango between Hardware and Software/Varindra Seth, Pramod Sharma and N.K. Sahu. Summary, Conclusions and Lessons/N.K. Sahu.