中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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As the fist citizen of India, President Pratibha Patil being enumerated for the Census 2011 and National Population Register (NPR) by officials at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. (Agencies) |
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Millions of census workers fanned out across India on Wednesday as they began a mammoth effort to document every person in the world’s second most populous country over the next three weeks. First counted in New Delhi was President Pratibha Devisingh Patil at her pink sandstone presidential palace. Next, Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi sat with the census-takers under a banyan tree in her yard while inspecting and signing off on a 29-point questionnaire listing income, religion, education and access to basic utilities among other topics. The details may help authorities identify areas where neglect is high, where poverty is particularly rife and where high numbers of people are unable to read or to work. “It is the second-largest census in the world,” Vice President Hamid Ansari told Press Trust of India news agency after being counted. India could soon rival China as the world’s most populous, however, with a yearly growth rate of about 1.4 percent. Indian officials say the national count, taken every 10 years, is crucial for both the government and private sector to set relevant policies, programs and budgets. This is the second phase of the census, with the first last year listing some 300 million Indian households and estimating the population to be around 1.17 billion. For the first time, the census is noting whether people live in mud huts or concrete structures, have electricity or access to toilets, and if they have ever been to school even if they don’t go anymore. India has appointed some 2.7 million census-takers, many of them school teachers, who are also collecting name and address details to be used later in issuing identity cards as part of a National Population Register, for which citizens will also have to provide fingerprints and be photographed at some later date. Officials warn that people trying to hide facts or give false answers may be fined up to 1,000 rupees (about $ 22). (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
自本周三起，印度全國數百萬人口普查員將展開為期三周的人口普查工作。印度人口總量位居全球第二，普查任務十分艱巨。 印度總統普拉蒂巴?德維辛格?帕蒂爾在她粉紅砂巖的總統府內接受了人口普查，成為首位在新德里接受普查的公民。隨后，國大黨主席索尼婭?甘地在院內的一棵菩提樹下和普查員坐在一起，審閱并填寫了普查問卷，其中列有收入、宗教信仰、受教育程度、基礎設施使用等29個項目。 問卷詳細信息將有助于政府找出那些極不受重視、貧困非常普遍、文盲率或失業率較高的地區。 副總統哈米德?安薩里在接受普查后告訴印度報業托拉斯：“這是全球第二大人口普查。” 然而，隨著該國人口年增長約1.4%，印度人口即將超過中國，成為世界上人口最多的國家。 印度官員表示，十年一度的人口普查對于政府和私營部門制定有關政策、計劃和預算都至關重要。目前已進入普查的第二階段。在去年的第一階段中，共有3億戶家庭接受普查，估計人口總數約為11.7億。 此次普查首次涉及居民是否居住在茅草棚或混凝土建筑、家中是否通電、是否有衛生間、是否曾入學讀書，哪怕目前已經輟學等問題。 印度指派了大約270萬名普查員，其中很多人是教師。普查員搜集的姓名和住址等信息隨后還將用于發放身分證，這也是全國人口登記的一項內容。為此，公民在稍后還需提供指紋和照片。 印度官員提醒稱，試圖瞞報或謊報信息者將被處以最多一千盧比（大約22美元）罰款。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: fan out: to spread out like a fan（展開，散開） mammoth: of gigantic size or importance（極其巨大的，龐大的） |
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