NEW DELHI: A good share of Census 2027 datasets may be released in the same year, thanks to the capturing of data in digital mode right from the outset, Registrar General of India and census commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan assured ahead of the launch of Census 2027, the world’s largest and India’s first-ever digital population data capture.“Earlier, census data was first collected on paper and then digitised, making compilation a time-consuming process. Collection of data digitally will ensure Census 2027 datasets are out much faster,” he said.Appealing to citizens to participate wholeheartedly in the census, Narayan asked them to furnish accurate information as census data is key for shaping policy and socio-economic interventions.
1st 15 days of 45-day house visit period are for self-enumeration
Registrar general and census commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan also hoped a good percentage of people will opt for self-enumeration, another first in the history of Indian Census, via the dedicated portal that lists tooltips and FAQs to guide users through the process.The houselisting operations (HLO) phase of census — which will collect data on housing conditions and amenities — gets under way on April 1 across eight states and UTs, including Delhi’s NDMC and cantonment area. All states/UTs, too, barring West Bengal, have chosen separate HLO timelines between April and Sept.The first 15 days of the 45-day HLO period are exclusively for self-enumeration, another first in the history of the census. Over the next 30 days, field visits will be undertaken by over 30 lakh enumerators. “We expect Bengal to also notify its HLO schedule soon,” said Narayan.The HLO phase will be followed by population enumeration in Feb next year. March 1, 2027, shall be the reference date for Census 2027, except for a few snow-bound areas. It is during the population enumeration phase that individual data fields like religion, fertility, socio-economic status, migration, and, for the first time after 1931, caste, will be captured. The questions for Phase-2 — which will include caste count — will be notified later, said the RGI.Asked why National Population Register (NPR) updation had been delinked from Census 2027, unlike the original plan for Census 2021, and if this was on account of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls exercise, the RGI ruled out any correlation between the two. TOI was the first to report on June 17, 2025, that NPR updation would not be undertaken alongside Census 2027.Narayan assured that individual data recorded during Census 2027 will be kept strictly confidential, as mandated by the Census Act. “It cannot be shared with any govt agency, accessed under RTI or produced before the courts. Only aggregated statistical data will be used for tabulation purposes,” he said.Census 2027 data will be collected through a mobile app, and a web portal will monitor and manage various activities of census and house listing, while block creation will be done through a web mapping application. No documents are to be provided by respondents during the census.
‘Census caste questions yet to be finalised’
Registrar general and census commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, when asked about the likely methodology of capturing caste during the population enumeration phase of the census due in Feb next year, said questions for the relevant phase were yet to be finalised.“There are many suggestions on how to collect caste information. All those will be considered, and the best shall be picked and questions framed and finalised accordingly,” he said. Asked about the risk of respondents declaring a wrong caste to avail the benefit of reservation, Narayan clarified that individual information collected during the census is not meant to be used for any purpose. “Only aggregate statistical information is made public. Individual data cannot be used to derive any benefit from any scheme,” he said.
