Census 2027: India's first fully digital census; self-enumeration portal opens

India's decennial population census, Census 2027, has formally begun. Phase I, called Houselisting and Housing Operations (HLO), runs from April to September 2026 across states and Union Territories, with the Population Enumeration phase scheduled for February 2027.

Census 2027 is the first census in independent India to be conducted fully digitally, replacing paper schedules with a mobile application used by enumerators. It is also the first census to introduce self-enumeration: a household can fill in its own details on the official portal in any of 16 languages, generate a unique Self-Enumeration ID, and have it verified during the enumerator's visit. The self-enumeration window is 15 days, just ahead of the 30-day field enumeration window.

Several states and Union Territories - including Andaman and Nicobar Islands, parts of Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha and Sikkim - began HLO from 16 April with a self-enumeration window between 1 and 15 April 2026. A second batch (Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh and Haryana) began their HLO from 1 May, with self-enumeration from 16 to 30 April.

The Census of India is conducted under the Census Act 1948 by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RGCCI), under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The exercise covers more than 1.4 billion people and is the largest peace-time administrative operation in the country. It will, for the first time since 1931, also include caste enumeration. The reference date for the census is yet to be officially notified for all states.

Exam angle: Direct prelims hooks - Census 2027 is India's first fully digital census; conducted under the Census Act, 1948; carried out by RGCCI under Ministry of Home Affairs; 16 languages on the self-enumeration portal; previous decennial census was Census 2011.