They are counting stray dogs in Gujarat, drug addicts in Punjab and tasting mid-day meals in Andhra Pradesh. In Feb, school teachers were requisitioned as booth level officers for the special intensive revision (SIR) survey, and now as enumerators for the Census, making them omnipresent everywhere except where they belong: the classroom.
Around 30 lakh enumerators, most of them govt school teachers, have been roped in for door-to-door enumeration beginning April 16. In states like Karnataka, this has triggered pushback, with teachers already deployed on board exam duty. But under Census rules, anyone assigned to assist who refuses or fails to perform their duties can face imprisonment of up to three years.
