NEW DELHI: The first phase of Census 2027 involving self-enumeration and house listing exercise will be launched in select states on April 1, said Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India (RG-CCI) Mirtunjay Kumar Narayan on Monday.
Self-enumeration will be launched first in National Capital territory (NCT) of Delhi--NDMC and cantonment areas--along with Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Karnataka, Sikkim, Odisha, Lakhshadweep and Mizoram on April 1. After the enumeration is completed in 15 days, house to house visits will be conducted between April 16 and May 15.
In the rest of the country, the self-enumeration and house to house visits will be undertaken in a phased manner, with Manipur being the last state.
The enumeration process is expected to be completed on September 31.
Addressing a press conference here Narayan further emphasised that the individual data collected for the Census 2027 will be kept confidential under Section 15 of the Census Act, 1948 and the same cannot be accessed under the Right to Information or for any of the court cases.
Narayan said, “Census is a vast task to carry on. Census will be carried out in two phases and this time the data will be collected digitally. The procedure of the Census is carried out under the provisions of the Census Act 1948 and the Census Rules 1990. Under Section 15 of the Census Act, the individual data is kept confidential. The data cannot be accessed under the RTI or presented as evidence in court. Only aggregate numbers are used for tabulation.”
The Census 2027 is overall the 16th such exercise and the eighth after independence, he said, adding that the first phase of the Census will include questions related to the housing conditions, amenities available and assets possessed by households.
The Population Enumeration, which will be done in the second phase of the Census, will include the collection of data on demographic, socio-cultural and economic parameters along with migration and fertility characteristics of individuals, Narayan said.
“The reference date for Population Census - 2027 will be 00:00 hours of March 1, 2027. Phase I will be House Listing (HLO). This phase involves the collection of data on housing conditions, amenities available and assets possessed by households. No personal details are to be collected in this phase. This provides a frame for Phase 2 of the Census. Phase 2 will be Population Enumeration (PE). In this phase, data related to various demographic, socio-cultural and economic parameters along with migration and fertility characteristics of individuals from each household will be collected,” the RGI said.
“Questions of the first phase were notified on January 22 and notifications for the period and questions of the second Phase will be published in due course. Caste Enumeration will be done during the second phase,” he said.
Regarding the dates of the House Listing phase, he said, “Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Karnataka, Sikkim, Odisha, Lakshadweep, and Mizoram have chosen April 1 to 15 for self-enumeration and April 16 to May 15 for House Listing Census. Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu will carry out self-enumeration from April 5 to 19, with House Listing from April 20 to May 19... In NCT Delhi (MCD Area), self-enumeration will be done from May 1 to 15 and House Listing from May 16 to June 14.”
“The Union Cabinet has approved a total outlay of Rs 11,718.24 crore. Preparations: Instruction manuals for Phase 1 are prepared in 19 languages. Training of Census Functionaries is in progress,” he added.
The Census for Ladakh and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00.00 hours of October 1, 2026.
Census 2021 was also proposed to be conducted in two phases, and field work was scheduled to begin in some states from April 1, 2020. However, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country, the census work was postponed.