The Impressive TimesNEW DELHI: The Government of India has accelerated preparations for Census 2027, with the field operations for the Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO) under Phase-I commencing in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday. The launch follows the successful completion of the Self-Enumeration (SE) phase in the state. Enumerators have now begun house-to-house visits, which will continue until July 15, 2026, to collect detailed information on housing conditions, household composition and amenities available to residents.
At the same time, the Self-Enumeration facility has been activated in Kerala and Nagaland, allowing residents to submit their census information digitally through the official Self-Enumeration portal. The online process will remain open until June 30, 2026. Following the completion of the self-enumeration phase, field operations for the Houselisting and Housing Census in these two states will be conducted from July 1 to July 30, 2026.
The Census authorities have urged citizens who complete the online self-enumeration process to retain their generated Self-Enumeration ID (SE ID). This unique identification number should be shared with the Enumerator during the subsequent field visit to facilitate verification and completion of the census process. Households that do not opt for self-enumeration will be covered through the traditional door-to-door survey conducted by trained Enumerators.
The nationwide census exercise is already underway in several regions. House-to-house field operations are currently being conducted in Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Puducherry and Uttar Pradesh. These operations form a crucial part of the first phase of Census 2027, aimed at gathering accurate information on housing infrastructure, household characteristics and living conditions across the country.
Meanwhile, significant progress has been recorded in other parts of India. The Houselisting and Housing Census operations carried out between May 16 and June 14, 2026, have been successfully completed in Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, as well as in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) area of the National Capital Territory. Similar operations in Punjab were concluded on June 13, marking another milestone in the nationwide exercise.
So far, a total of 23 States and Union Territories have completed the first phase of Census 2027. These include Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
A key feature of Census 2027 is the integration of digital technology into the data collection process. For the first time in India’s census history, information is being collected through a dedicated mobile application alongside the conventional door-to-door enumeration system. This hybrid approach is expected to improve efficiency, accuracy and transparency while ensuring that no household is left out of the census exercise.
During the Houselisting and Housing Census phase, Enumerators collect information through a structured questionnaire containing 33 notified questions. The survey covers a wide range of details, including housing conditions, household demographics, availability of basic amenities such as drinking water, sanitation and electricity, as well as ownership of various assets.
The government has reiterated that all information collected under the Census Act, 1948, remains strictly confidential and is used solely for statistical analysis, policy formulation and development planning. Citizens in the notified States and Union Territories have been encouraged to actively participate in the exercise and extend full cooperation to Enumerators to ensure the success of Census 2027, one of the country’s most significant data-gathering initiatives.
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