Timeline and Reference Dates
- Census Year: 2027
- Reference Date:
- March 1, 2027: For most parts of India
- October 1, 2026: For snow-bound and non-synchronous areas of:
- Ladakh
- Jammu & Kashmir
- Himachal Pradesh
- Uttarakhand
Relevance : GS 2(Governance)
Freezing of Administrative Boundaries
- With the Gazette notification issued under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948, freezing of administrative boundaries comes into effect.
- States cannot alter boundaries of districts, tehsils, police stations, etc., until the Census process concludes.
- This is crucial for maintaining consistency in enumeration blocks.
Digital Census Features
- The 2027 Census will be digitally driven:
- Use of mobile applications by enumerators
- Option for self-enumeration by the public
- First-time use of end-to-end digital data collection in India’s census history.
Data Security Measures
- Emphasis on stringent data protection:
- Secure collection
- Secure transmission
- Secure storage
- Aims to ensure data privacy and public trust.
Manpower & Preparation
- Deployment of:
- 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors
- 1.3 lakh Census functionaries
- Two-phase Census:
- House Listing Operations
- Population Enumeration
- Pre-test exercises to test:
- Mobile app effectiveness
- Enumerator familiarity and process readiness
Administrative Oversight
- Notification issued by the Registrar-General of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah has already reviewed Census preparations.
- Upcoming notifications will detail:
- Pre-test schedule
- First-phase operations
Significance
- The 2027 Census will be India’s first digital census — a major technological and logistical shift.
- Comes after repeated delays of the 2021 Census, affected by the pandemic and other factors.
- Freezing administrative boundaries ensures consistency and comparability in demographic data over time.
