Centre Notifies First Phase of Census 2027

On 7th January 2026, the Centre issued the notification for the first phase of the Census of India 2027, marking the beginning of India’s first fully digital census exercise.

Key Points

House Listing Schedule: House listing operations will be conducted between 1 April and 30 September across all States and Union Territories, during a 30-day period specified by each State/UT.
Self-Enumeration Facility: A 15-day self-enumeration window will be available prior to house-to-house listing, as per schedules notified by individual States and UTs.
First Digital Census: Census 2027 will be the first census conducted entirely through digital means, using mobile applications available on Android and iOS platforms.
Large Workforce Deployment: Around 30 lakh field functionaries, including Enumerators, Supervisors, Master Trainers, Charge Officers and District Census Officers, will be deployed for census operations.
Two-Phase Census: The census will be conducted in two phases: Houselisting and Housing Census between April and September 2026, followed by Population Enumeration (PE) in February 2027.
Special Areas Schedule: For Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, population enumeration will be conducted in September 2026.
Cabinet Approval: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Census 2027 scheme on 12 December, with an outlay of ₹11,718.24 crore.
Caste Enumeration: The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) had earlier decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census.