Census 2027: India's first digital census gets green light, ₹11,718 crore budget approved

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Central Government took a historic step on Friday and clarified the situation regarding the next census of the country. In the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the proposal to conduct the census in the year 2027 was given the green signal. To ensure the smooth completion of this mega campaign, the government has approved a huge budget of Rs 11,718.24 crore. While giving information about the cabinet decisions, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that this will be the first 'digital census' in the history of India, for which data security has been given top priority while preparing its digital design.

This massive census process will be completed in two phases. According to Ashwini Vaishnav, the first phase, which includes house listing and housing census, will be conducted between April and September 2026. Following this, the second phase of the main population count will be conducted in February 2027. However, keeping in mind the geographical challenges, the government has set a different timetable for mountainous regions. In Ladakh, some snow-covered areas of Jammu and Kashmir, and the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the census will be completed ahead of schedule, i.e., in September 2026, to avoid weather disruptions.

This census will be technologically advanced. It will be the world's largest administrative and statistical exercise, with approximately 3 million employees participating. Mobile apps will replace outdated paper files for data collection, and a state-of-the-art central portal will be created to monitor the entire process. This is expected to improve the quality and accuracy of the data. Under "Census-as-a-Service," the government will provide clean, machine-readable data to various ministries, facilitating policy development.

Historically, the 2027 census will be the 16th census in the country and the 8th since independence. Conducted under the Census Act, 1948, and the Census Rules, 1990, this campaign is the largest source of primary data at the village, town, and ward level in the country. It will not only count the population, but also collect detailed data on several key aspects, such as housing conditions, amenities, property, demographics, religion, Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC-ST), language, literacy, education, economic activities, and migration.