Census 2027 Self-Enumeration Starts April 1; Data Confidential, Digital

Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan said that the data collected under the Census exercise cannot be accessed under the Right to Information or for court cases.

He said that the self-enumeration period for Delhi, along with several other states, will begin on April 1 and will go on till April 15, followed by April 16 to May 15 for the House Listing Census.

He 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. Census 2027 is the 16th Census overall and the eighth after independence."

He informed 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 is Phase II of the Census, will include the collection of data on demographic, socio-cultural and economic parameters along with migration and fertility characteristics of individuals.

"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," he 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," Narayan added.

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.

- ANI