Centre issues notification for first phase of Census of India 2027:
The Centre has issued the notification for the first phase of the Census of India 2027, marking the formal start of India’s largest statistical exercise after a gap of more than a decade.
- The Census of India 2027 is the 16th Census overall and the 8th after Independence, conducted under the Census Act, 1948 and Census Rules, 1990.
- It will be carried out in two phases:
- Houselisting and Housing Census (HLHC): April–September 2026
- Population Enumeration (PE): February 2027The exercise is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India.
New features in Census 2027:
- First fully digital Census: Data collection through mobile applications (Android & iOS) instead of paper schedules.
- Self-enumeration facility: Citizens can fill details online 15 days prior to field enumeration.
- Census Management & Monitoring System (CMMS): Real-time digital monitoring of enumeration and supervision.
- GIS-based House listing Block (HLB) Creator: Web-map application for accurate geo-referencing of census blocks.
- Caste enumeration: For the first time since 1931, caste data will be collected electronically in the Population Enumeration phase.
- Census-as-a-Service (CaaS): Clean, machine-readable datasets for Ministries to enable faster, evidence-based policymaking.
