The driving force to use the Hand Held Computer was to lessen the enormous amount of paper used in prior census operations.

Also included are the evolution of reasons for knowing the precise age of individuals and how age groups were standardized because these aspects are closely linked to census operations.

It was disbanded in 1962 after the completion of the census operation.

"We've still got census operations going on that will likely change these numbers," said Ray L. Bancroft, a Census Bureau spokesman.

In 1875, at the age of 24, Nagam Aiya conducted the first census operations in Travancore.

At any one time, the military is conducting dozens of separate census operations.

However, the experts also remarked that some undercount of the population can also be expected in any census operations, and that this might reduce the effect of the above-mentioned overcount.

Bureau officials say many oversight agencies seek "real time" data on census operations, including up-to-the-minute figures on staff recruitment, the number of questionnaires mailed or returned and the amount of households visited.

"I was here in 1990, and that was a nightmare," said Mr. Farthing, who in 1990 headed census operations in Brooklyn.

Discounting Any Timing Problem Bureau officials are scrutinizing a new automation system that links the 484 district offices, 12 regional offices and other census operations around the country.