THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The surveys being conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) have run into trouble as people in various pockets refuse to cooperate with the exercise due to concerns over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Though the situation is worse in northern districts of Malappuram, Palakkad and Kozhikode, there were instances in Kochi, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram as well. Field officers are facing threats not just from people but also from ward members. “Even the police are not helping us as they used to,” said an officer.
“We are getting regular reports about issues faced by field officers. The problem became severe after anti-CAA protests in the last few months,” said Sunita Bhaskar, Deputy Director-General of NSSO in the state. According to her, the problem arises because people link it to CAA. She has written to the chief secretary and local government minister seeking support, but the government is yet to respond. The NSSO is conducting five major household surveys at present, such as the 78th round of socioeconomic survey on domestic tourism expenditure, periodic labour survey, urban frame survey, annual survey of unincorporated sector enterprises and survey on missing indicators of sustainable development goals.
The surveys seek basic details such as religion, reservation status and education. But these are enough to create panic, said the officer. Recently, the quarterly labour survey in Thirunavaya of Malappuram was stopped due to a ward member’s objection. Later, 15 families stayed away from the survey in Kannadi panchayat in Palakkad. The NSSO cannot drop a region as it would affect the sample. It would affect the quality of estimates based on the sample, said Saji George, Deputy Director-General of NSSO in Tamil Nadu.
Awareness campaign
In a bid to conduct regular surveys without hassles, the NSSO will launch a public awareness campaign to dispel the confusion among the public. The campaign includes advertisements in theatres during film screening, on FM radio channels and in newspapers. Sub-regional offices have already started taking the help of panchayat presidents by asking them to inaugurate the seventh economic census, which started in January. “It is basically just a trust deficit. So we need to create awareness to allay the concerns,” said Saji George, Deputy Director-General of NSSO in Tamil Nadu.