5. Age _ _
You have to collect information in part 2 for all persons mentioned in statement 1.1 and statement 1.2 of part 1. Some of the following questions have been answered in part 1. Therefore there will be no need to ask these questions again. In such cases all you have to do is to copy the information in the appropriate column.
58. Column 5: age
The age of every person must be stated in completed years only, as on March 3, 2013. For those who know their birthdays, the age to be recorded is the age as at last birthday. "Age in completed years" mean that all the ages must be recorded in full years discarding fractions of years and months.
58.1 For instance, 15 years 11 months should be written down as 15. Do not write down months. Only years are required. The age of all infants who are less than one year old should be recorded as "00". In this connection you are requested to make sure that infants of the household even if one day or less than one day old as on survey night are invariably enumerated. It is again pointed out that you should take all precautions to enumerate children (less than age 14) and infants (less than 1 year). Unless you ask probing questions they are likely to be omitted. This is a very important instruction that you should bear in mind always. It would be desirable to ascertain the date of birth wherever possible and calculate the age in completed years.
58.2 What to do when a person does not know his/her age?
For such a person use any of the following methods to estimate his/her age:
You may ask him/her to state the year of birth according to animal calendar. Based on the information furnished and using the conversion table given to you, record the age carefully in completed years.
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Sometimes the age can be ascertained with reference to the age of another person of known age, who may be living in the same household or in the neighboring household or that of a well-known person of the village chief.
Only as a last resort you should be estimate a person's age from his/her physical features. If you are obtaining information about an absent person from a third person then obviously you have to rely on the information supplied by the third person in estimating the age in respect of the person who is absent. You should not leave this column blank under any circumstances.