BHUBANESWAR: Over 25,000 people self-enumerated digitally on day one of the first phase of Census 2027 that began across the state on Wednesday.
The exercise was rolled out formally with Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati enumerating himself digitally at Raj Bhavan in presence of Odisha Census Operations director Nikhil Pawan Kalyan.
As the first citizen of the state, the Governor completed the self-enumeration process and encouraged others to do the same. The Governor, on the occasion, called upon all citizens to actively take part in the nationwide exercise which he said provides foundation for effective planning and development in the country and stated that accurate data collection in the census is essential to ensure inclusive growth. He also advised people to ensure that no individual or family is left out during the process.
Bhubaneswar mayor Sulochana Das and chief secretary Anu Garg also joined the digital exercise on the first day.
The director of Census Operations informed that about 6,000 households, around 25,000 people, joined the self-enumeration till 5pm on the first day. The number will gradually increase.
He said the first-of-its-kind exercise is a special and time-saving facility that will continue in the state till April 15 as part of which households can visit se.census.gov.in and log in via OTP on their mobile number and fill in information to generate their self-enumeration ID. The ID can be shown to the enumerators during their door-to-door visit for the house-listing exercise from April 16.
Kalyan, however, said self-enumeration is not mandatory and for those not being able to take part in the exercise, the enumerators will collect the information during the house-listing.
This operation will continue in the state till May 15 in which trained enumerators and supervisors will visit households across all 30 districts to verify and collect the data.
Sources said the government has designed a questionnaire set covering key aspects such as housing conditions, family details, head of the household, vehicles, land ownership, LPG usage etc., for the enumeration exercise. About one lakh enumerators and 17,000 supervisors have been trained for the purpose.
The Census exercise is being carried out by Government of India in coordination with the state Revenue and Disaster Management department. Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has been appointed as the brand ambassador for the Census 2027 by the Ministry of Home Affairs.