Collectors asked to lead India’s first digital census in 2027

Vijayawada: Deputy Registrar General of India Dr VVLN Sharma urged the district Collectors, who are the district principal census officers, to play a key role in the census collection. A State-level meeting with the Principal Census Officers on (Census of India, 2027) was held at the Secretariat here on Friday.

In this meeting, issues related to the preparation of Census-2027, finalisation of master trainers, field trainers and training of District Census Officers, officers-in-charge and other issues were discussed.

Speaking at the meeting, Dr Sharma said that the 2027 census will be the 16th, and 8th since independence and the oldest census in the world. He said that the upcoming census will be conducted in two phases, the first phase being house listing and housing census (HLO) and the second phase being population enumeration (PE). He said that this time the census will be conducted in a unique way as it will be the first time that the census process will be conducted in a digital manner. Dr Sharma said that the digital literacy at the field level is very good especially in the Telugu states, which will definitely enable the collection of the best data. He said that the census data is crucial for planning, policy development and understanding the needs of the community.

He also said that the process is very important for accurate planning and allocation of resources. The success of the census largely depends on the participation of the people with dedication and also on the effective training of the enumerators and supervisors who will be appointed for data collection.

Dr Sharma said that several orders have already been issued by the Registrar General of India regarding the collection of the census. He revealed that the 2027 census has a special feature in that along with the collection of the census in digital form, people can also self-enumerate personally through the web portal. He said that the principal census officers need to play a key role in the collection of the census.

State Nodal Officer for Census And Special Chief Secretary SS Rawat said that this time the Central government has decided to conduct the census process in a digital manner. He said that a mobile application and a web portal have been created accordingly. He said that all efforts will be made to conduct a census with accurate details in coordination with various departments. He suggested that the district principal census officers and municipal commissioners should take all steps to successfully conduct the census process.

State director of census J Niwas said that the Central government has taken steps to conduct the census in digital manner for the first time in the country, and therefore, the principal census officers should take appropriate steps to conduct the census successfully in the state. He explained that necessary guidelines have been issued to all districts in this regard. In this meeting, CDMA G Sampath Kumar, commissioner survey and settlements and land records RKurmanadh and others took part.