Census 2027 Goes Digital as 82 Lakh Households Self-Enumerate in Phase-1 Rollout

The first phase of Census 2027 has gathered pace across the country, with nearly 82 lakh households opting for the newly introduced self-enumeration facility, according to an official statement.

Field operations under the Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO) began on May 1 in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh , where trained enumerators have started door-to-door visits following the completion of the 15-day self-enumeration window. The exercise in these regions will continue till May 30.

During these visits, enumerators are tasked with collecting detailed information through a 33-question schedule , covering housing conditions, amenities, assets, and basic household details such as members, gender, and ownership status. Officials said enumerators are using dedicated mobile applications to digitally record responses, marking a major shift from paper-based data collection.

The self-enumeration facility , introduced for the first time, is currently active in Telangana and Punjab , allowing residents to submit data online and generate a unique Self-Enumeration ID (SE ID) for verification during field visits. In Andhra Pradesh , enumerators are focusing on integrating digitally submitted data with physical verification, while in Telangana , authorities are emphasising online participation before field enumeration begins.

Meanwhile, self-enumeration has commenced in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi area, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Jharkhand , where it will remain open till May 15, followed by field operations from May 16 to June 14. In Bihar , fieldwork begins May 2 after the online window closed.

Field operations are already underway in several other regions, including Goa, Karnataka, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Mizoram, and Union Territories such as Andaman and Nicobar Islands .

Officials reiterated that all data collected under the Census Act, 1948 remains confidential and is used strictly for statistical and developmental planning purposes.