Odisha and Uttar Pradesh are among the first to roll out the digital exercise.
A day after the Centre notified that the first phase of Census 2027, the phase of houselisting operations (HLO), will be conducted across the country from April 1 to September 30, the Odisha government said it would carry out the exercise in April with nearly 100,000 enumerators fanning out across the state.
The Uttar Pradesh government has indicated it will conduct the HLO in May and June with 600,000 enumerators.
Most other states are also likely to conduct the HLO in the earlier part of the April 1-September 30 window specified for the exercise.
West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry, all poll-bound, are likely to do this job once the elections, likely by the third week of May, are over.
The self-enumeration option will be available a fortnight before the beginning of the HLO phase, the Centre has said.
The second phase of the Census, the phase of population enumeration, will be conducted in February next year. The caste Census will be part of this phase.
Census 2027 will be the first digital Census
A brief revision round will conclude the process of Census 2027 in early March next year to ensure no resident is excluded.
For the Union Territory of Ladakh, snow-bound areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, population enumeration will be conducted in September.
Census 2027 will be the first digital Census. The data will be collected using mobile applications.
The Centre has developed a dedicated portal, the Census Management and Monitoring System, for managing and monitoring the process in real time.
Census 2027 will also be the first in independent India to enumerate caste. Officials said around 90 per cent of data collection was expected through digital mode.
"The interested people can also provide their information on their own by registering on the official web site using a one-time password-based mobile verification system. One mobile number can be used only once, and features like screenshots from the app will be disabled to maintain data security," an official associated with the Census operations said.
In a gazette notification, Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan said HLO would take place between April 1 and September 30 in all states and Union Territories during the period of 30 days specified by each state and Union Territory.
There will also be an option for self-enumeration, which will be conducted in 15 days just before the start of houselisting operations of 30 days, he said.
Around three million field functionaries, including enumerators, supervisors, and master trainers, will be deployed for the data collection, monitoring and supervision of the job.
All the Census functionaries will be paid a suitable honorarium because they will be doing this in addition to their regular duties.
Training for enumerators and others to be engaged in the Census exercise will be held this month, in February, and in March.
Census 2027 will be the 16th in the country and eighth after Independence.
It is the biggest source of primary data at village, town and ward levels, providing micro-level data on various parameters, including housing conditions, amenities and assets; demography; religion; Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; language, literacy and education; economic activities; migration; and fertility.
The Census Act, 1948, and the Census Rules, 1990, provide the legal framework for this.
The pre-test, which is the preparatory exercise of the first phase of Census 2027, was conducted in select areas across the country in November last year.
It had sought household responses to 35 questions, such as the source of potable water and cooking fuel, main cereals consumed, and the materials used for the floor and roof of the house.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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