The Indian government greenlit a Rs 11,718 crore budget for Census 2027 on Friday — outlining a two-phase exercise that will begin next year. The largest administrative and statistical exercise in the world will be conducted digitally for the first time and involve approximately 30 lakh field functionaries.

“Census 2027 will be the first-ever digital census. The digital design of the census has been made keeping in mind data protection. It will be conducted in two phases. Phase 1: House Listing and Housing Census will be from from April to September 2026. And Phase 2: Population Enumeration will start in February 2027,” said Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

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Two-phase approach

According to the details shared by the government, Phase one will begin in April 2026 while phase two follows in February 2027. Population Enumeration will be conducted in September 2026 for the Union Territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of UT of Jammu and Kashmir and states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. About 30 lakh field functionaries will complete this gigantic exercise of national importance.

An official release said that the use of a mobile app for data collection and the Central portal for monitoring purposes will ensure better quality data. The Census process involves visiting each and every household and canvassing separate questionnaire for Houselisting & Housing Census and Population Enumeration.

“Data dissemination will be much better and in a user-friendly way so that all the queries on required parameters for policy making will be made available on the click of a button. Census-as-a-service (CaaS) will deliver data to ministries in a clean, machine-readable and actionable format,” the release said.

What’s new this time?

“First Census by digital means in country. Data will be collected using mobile applications that will be available for both Android as well as iOS versions. A dedicated portal namely Census Management & Monitoring System (CMMS) portal has been developed for managing and monitoring the entire Census process on a real time basis. Houselisting Block (HLB) Creator web map application: Another innovation for Census 2027 is HLB Creator web map application to be used by the Charge Officers,” a PIB release said.

Here are the full details:

  • First Census by digital means in country. Data will be collected using mobile applications that will be available for both Android as well as iOS versions.
  • A dedicated portal namely Census Management & Monitoring System (CMMS) portal has been developed for managing and monitoring the entire Census process on a real time basis.
  • Houselisting Block (HLB) Creator web map application: Another innovation for Census 2027 is HLB Creator web map application to be used by the Charge Officers.
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  • Option to self-enumerate will be provided to the public.
  • Suitable security features have been provisioned for this mammoth digital operation.
  • Census 2027 will have a focused and wider publicity campaign for nationwide awareness, inclusive participation, last-mile engagement and support for field operations. It will emphasize on sharing accurate, authentic & timely information ensuring cohesive & effective outreach effort.
  • Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, in its meeting on 30th April 2025 decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census i.e. Census 2027.  With the huge social and demographic diversity in our country and related challenges, the Census 2027 will also capture Caste data electronically in second Population Enumeration phase.
  • About 30 lakh field functionaries including Enumerators, Supervisors, Master Trainers, Charge Officers and Principal/ District Census Officers will be deployed for data collection, monitoring and supervision of Census operations. All the Census functionaries will be paid suitable honorarium for the work of Census as they will be doing this work in addition to their regular duties.