Convergence and Technology for Population Enumeration in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, India

This research paper reports the use of convergence and digital tools for a successful and speedy execution of a population enumeration in the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (UT of DNH and DD), India. The Department of Health and Family Welfare led the efforts to conduct population enumeration in a mission mode during June 2023. Administrative approval facilitated convergence with other public departments such as education, Panchayati Raj, women and child welfare, information and broadcasting, and non governmental agencies. All public departments finalized the list of data points of common interest to be included as part of the population enumeration. The data points were digitized in a mobile phone application by an IT partner. The education department identified and incentivized graduate students from all the colleges as enumerators; A non government organization conducted mass training for the enumerators and health workers. Panchayati Raj Institutions, frontline health workers, and media were involved in publicity and community engagement. A centralized program management cell provided support and supervision to the enumerators. 2,06,166 families along with 736,179 family members, were enumerated by 2,500 student enumerators and health workers within one month which was 95% of the population. 1,00,312 (48.65%) families were domiciled of the UT of DNH and DD. 696,433 (94.6%) citizens shared their Adhaar card number indicating the high acceptability of the enumeration. Subsequently, the final population enumeration data became a single source of truth and was actively used by multiple public departments for their programmatic needs. The UT of DNH and DD completed population enumeration of the entire population with the high coverage and data quality in a mission mode. The paper highlights the successful use of convergence and digital technology.