Odisha Launches Door-to-Door Digital Census in Bhubaneswar

Mayor of Bhubaneswar, Sulochana Das, highlighted that residents filled out forms containing 33 questions and over 2 lakh people have participated in the self-enumeration.

"The Door-to-door, digital-first census exercise is underway in Bhubaneswar. People participated in self-enumeration from April 1-15. The self-enumeration forms had 33 questions, and now at least 3012 enumerators are carrying out this door-to-door census exercise to verify and collect new information. It will help understand the economic condition and social status, helping the government to plan development accordingly," she told ANI on Thursday.

She further appealed to residents to cooperate with enumerators and provide accurate details during the door-to-door campaign, underlining that the census is for the welfare of people and will become the foundation for development strategies.

"I appeal to the public to provide the correct information to them as the census is being carried out for their welfare. In Odisha, over 2 lakh people participated in self-enumeration. But still, there are several people left so this door-to-door campaign is starting today. This census is for us. The information we will give to the government will become the basis for development strategies. So, it is our responsibility to give correct information to the enumerators," she added.

Census 2027 will be India's 16th census and the eighth since Independence. For the first time, citizens will have the option of self-enumeration through a digital platform. The census will be conducted in two phases.

Phase I covers Houselisting and Housing Census, being carried out over a period of 30 days across states and UTs between April and September 2026, with a 15-day self-enumeration window preceding the house-to-house enumeration work. In this phase, information about the condition of houses, amenities available to the household and assets possessed by the household will be collected. Questions of Phase I of the Census have been notified in January 2026.

Phase II-Population Enumeration (PE) will be conducted during February 2027 (UT of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of UT of Jammu and Kashmir and States of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh Phase II will be conducted during September 2027.

As decided by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), enumeration of castes will also be done during the second phase of the Census. In phase II, information on demographic, socio-economic, education, migration, fertility, etc. will be collected from each individual. Exact dates of the Population Enumeration and questions to be covered in this Phase will be notified in due course.

- ANI