Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Oct 25: More than seven months after completing the 21st Livestock Census in Karnataka, the enumerators who carried out the door-to-door survey are still waiting to receive their honourarium.

The department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services had engaged Pashu Sakhis — women livestock assistants who are not government employees — to conduct the census. Many of them spent from their own pockets on travel and fieldwork, and now say the delay in payment has pushed them into financial difficulty.

The census, launched by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on October 30, 2024, was concluded in March 2025. The department had promised a modest incentive: Rs 9 per household in rural areas and Rs 8 per household in urban areas.

Enumerators were required to visit every household, whether or not it had livestock, and record extensive data — including the number and breed of animals, year of birth, the family’s landholding, and the caste and community of the livestock owners. The collected information was uploaded through the ‘21 Live Stock Census’ mobile application. Each rural enumerator was tasked with covering around 4,500 households on average.

“In rural areas, homes are far apart. We had to visit even houses without a single animal. In some places we had to hire auto-rickshaws to reach the villages. Those with two-wheelers paid for petrol themselves. Now, when it comes to paying our honourarium, the officials seem to be endlessly counting sheep and goats,” said one Pashu Sakhi, who preferred to remain anonymous.

Another enumerator shared her frustration: “I visited about 2,300 households and am owed nearly Rs 20,000. If we had received that money, it would have been a great help during these tough times.”

Across Karnataka, 4,868 enumerators and 725 supervisory officers were deployed for the 21st Livestock Census.

According to figures from the 2019 census, Dakshina Kannada district had 4.54 lac households, of which 68,000 families were engaged in animal husbandry. For the latest census, 215 enumerators were appointed in the district, including over 100 Pashu Sakhis and several D-group staff from the department, official sources confirmed.

Despite the successful completion of the census, the workers who made it possible are still left waiting — not for numbers to be tallied, but for their long-promised dues to finally arrive.