Assam Chief Secretary Ravi Kota chairs high-level meeting on Census 2027 preparedness in Guwahati
Guwahati, May 26
Assam held a State-Level Conference of Principal Census Officers in Guwahati to review preparations for Census 2027 on Monday, which will be India's first digital census exercise.
The conference, held at the Assam Administrative Staff College under the chairmanship of Ravi Kota, Chief Secretary of Assam, focused on preparations for Phase-I of Census 2027, namely the House-listing and Housing Census (HLO).
The programme was organised by the General Administration Department of the Assam government in association with the Directorate of Census Operations, Assam, under the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs.
Senior officials, including Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, District Commissioners, Municipal Commissioners, Principal Census Officers and officers from the Directorate of Census Operations attended the conference.
Officials informed that Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases: House-listing and Housing Census (HLO) and Population Enumeration (PE). The first phase will focus on collecting data related to houses, housing conditions, household amenities and assets, while the second phase will involve population enumeration.
The Government of Assam has scheduled Phase-I operations from August 17 to September 15, 2026, while self-enumeration through the official portal will be available from August 2 to August 16, 2026.
Addressing the conference, Chief Secretary Ravi Kota stressed the importance of administrative coordination and public participation.
"He emphasised the importance of coordinated administrative efforts, public participation and timely preparedness for the successful conduct of Census 2027," officials said.
Later speaking to reporters, Biswajit Pegu, Chief Principal Census Officer of Assam, said the conference focused on training and logistical planning for the massive exercise.
"Today, a state-level conference of our Assam state has been organised, in which our district commissioners, municipal corporation commissioners, and principal secretaries of autonomous councils have been called. It's a full-day conference today, in which discussions will be held on the preparations for our Census 2027, how to train them, and how to make logistical arrangements for them," Pegu said.
Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, highlighted the importance of the first phase of the census exercise.
"Today, a conference of Principal Census Officers who are district commissioners, municipal commissioners and principal secretaries and secretaries of autonomous hill councils has been conducted today under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, Assam," Narayan said.
"As you know, the census is conducted in two phases. The first phase is called House-listing and Housing Census. So this is kind of the start of the preparation for the first phase of the census. And this first phase has to be completed by 30th September 2026. Then we'll have the second phase in Feb 2027," he added.
Officials said around 83,535 enumerators and supervisors, including reserve personnel, will be deployed for Phase-I operations across Assam. Training programmes for Master Trainers are scheduled from June 9 to June 12, while training of Field Trainers is expected to begin in the third week of June.
The data collected during the first phase is expected to help both the State and Central governments improve planning related to housing, infrastructure, drinking water, sanitation, electricity and digital connectivity, particularly in flood-prone, tribal and tea-garden areas of Assam.
The conference concluded with discussions on operational strategy, training of census personnel, digital infrastructure and public awareness campaigns for Census 2027.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Good initiative, but I hope they pay attention to data privacy and security. With everything going digital, there must be strict protocols to protect citizens' personal information. Also, training over 83,000 enumerators is a massive task—hope they don't rush through it.
Great news for Assam! As someone from the tea garden belt, I can tell you that housing and infrastructure data is badly needed. But I'm skeptical about the timeline—August 2026 seems far, but these government exercises always face delays. Let's hope they stick to the schedule! 👍
I appreciate the focus on flood-prone areas. As someone living in Guwahati, we see how the Brahmaputra affects everything. But I hope the census also captures data on informal settlements and migrant workers—they often get missed in such exercises. Accurate data = better policies.
Digital census is the way forward, but let's not forget the importance of language. In Assam, many people speak Assamese, Bodo, Bengali, and other languages. The portal and training materials must be available in multiple languages to ensure no one is left behind. Bilingual forms might help!
I'm excited about the self-enumeration option! As a working professional, I often miss census workers at home. But I hope the portal is user-friendly and works on mobile phones—not everyone has a laptop. Also, security concerns about personal data being hacked need to be addressed.
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.