Context

Puducherry launched its seventh Economic Census.

About

• Economic census is the complete count of all establishments engaged in non?agricultural economic activities located within the geographical boundary of India.
• The economic census provides disaggregated information on various operational and structural variables of all establishments of the country.
• One of the main aims of the Economic Census is preparation of a National Business Register which can be linked with existing databases at the central and state government levels.
• The seventh census would witness the use of Information Technology for data collection.
• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation carries out economic census every five years. The ministry has partnered with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Electronics and Information.

Significance

• It is a unique initiative in the sense that it will set a precedent for the entire country for carrying out a large-scale survey work like this.
• Also, planning of schemes would become more effective with availability of accurate data.