Census, NPR in two phases; headcount in state in Feb 2021

MUMBAI: Thecensusandnational Population Registry (NPR) exercise will be conducted in two phases across Maharashtra, with the first phase set to begin on May 1 and the second phase in February next year. The first phase will involve listing house details, including assets and amenities, and basic information about the head of the family; the second phase will be about collecting personal details of every member in all households.

While the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government — a coalition of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and

Congress — has not issued any official directive about conducting the exercise, the state administration has started preparations.

The Directorate of Census Operations, which plans to engage 3.34 lakh state employees for the exercise, has already imparted training to master enumerators, while training of fieldlevel functionaries and enumerators will be completed in next two months, said an official, on condition of anonymity, adding that in a meeting held with state officials, including district collectors, last week, the directorate has made it clear that the machinery was all set to take up the exercise.

SRINAGAR: Bureaucrat-turnedpolitician Shah Faesal, in preventive custody for the last six months, has been charged under the stringent Public Safety Act that allows Jammu and Kashmir authorities to detain a person for up to two years without trial, officials familiar with the development said on Saturday.

Faesal was served the order late on Friday, the officials said.

Faesal was detained at the Delhi airport on August 14, 2019, after he reached the capital from Srinagar and was sent back to Kashmir. He was detained at the Centaur Hotel and later at MLA Hostel. Officials said he will continue to be detained at the MLA Hostel.