Census 2027 Summit: Census 2027 Not Just Enumeration but National Digital Transformation Mission, Will Set Bedrock for Viksit Bharat: Chief Secretary

BuzzBytes News Desk
Jammu, Apr 10: Highlighting that India is at a crucial “data inflection point,” Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Thursday stated that the upcoming Census 2027 is not merely an enumeration exercise but a National Digital Transformation Mission that will set the bedrock for a ‘Viksit Bharat’ and evidence-based policy planning, while speaking at the Census 2027 Summit held at Abhinav Theatre, Jammu.
The summit, participated by senior administrators, development partners and policy experts, deliberated upon the roadmap, preparedness and significance of Census of India 2027, the country’s first-ever fully digital and paperless census exercise. The summit was attended by Amit Sharma, Chief Principal Census Officer and Director Census Operations, J&K and Ladakh; Andrea M. Wojnar, Resident Representative, UNFPA India; Praful Kumar Sigtia, Deputy Director General (Information Security), UIDAI; and Rohit Kumar, Co-Chair (Policy Making) G20, as special dignitaries.
Delivering the keynote address as chief guest, the Chief Secretary observed that India is entering a new era of governance driven by technology and real-time insights. Contrasting the upcoming exercise with the manual, time-consuming 2011 census, he emphasised the paradigm shift towards a technology-first, citizen-centric framework utilising mobile-based enumeration, artificial intelligence and cloud technology to ensure accuracy, transparency and speed.
Speaking on rapid global advancements in technology, the Chief Secretary stressed that data is going to be the key driver, oil and fuel of any nation’s economy in the AI-driven future. He noted that India’s vast demographic diversity provides a far richer dataset compared to Western nations, giving the country a strategic advantage in training AI systems and stepping up as a globally benchmarked data-driven nation. He also highlighted how the integration of trusted national datasets with the JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) has enabled the government to target beneficiaries directly, reducing leakages from astronomical to negligible levels, and observed that moving away from older “one-size-fits-all” centralised planning, this dynamic data ecosystem will allow for micro-level scientific urban and rural planning.
Underlining immediate administrative tasks, the Chief Secretary directed Deputy Commissioners and district administrations to ensure seamless grassroots execution, issuing clear directives for immediate completion of training for all census officers and enumerators, ensuring full readiness for the self-enumeration process beginning from May 17 and the subsequent house-to-house field work starting June 1, 2026. He further highlighted that census data plays a pivotal role in determining the financial share of States and Union Territories and guiding development initiatives for the next decade.
Earlier, delivering the welcome address, Chief Principal Census Officer Amit Sharma shed light on the two-phased structure of Census 2027. The first phase will cover House Listing and Housing Census (HLO), consisting of a Self Enumeration Period from May 17 to May 31 and House-to-House Field Work from June 1 to June 30, 2026. The second phase shall focus on Population Enumeration (PE), which will commence in September 2026 for snow-bound areas and in February 2027 for non-snowbound regions. He emphasised that Census 2027 will be a fully paperless, technology-driven initiative, with enumerators collecting and submitting data directly via a dedicated mobile app, while a secure web portal available in 16 languages will allow citizens to submit their details online before door-to-door surveys begin. Additionally, a new Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) will enable near real-time tracking of all field operations.
Andrea M. Wojnar, Resident Representative of UNFPA India, said that similar census practices anchored in digital technology and self-enumeration are being adopted across the world, expressing confidence that Census 2027 will be a robust and comprehensive exercise in India. She underscored that accurate and inclusive enumeration is foundational to evidence-based governance and equitable development. Praful Kumar Sigtia, Deputy Director General (Information Security), UIDAI, drew parallels between Census 2027 and the Aadhaar enrolment exercise, highlighting the scale, complexity and technological sophistication common to both, while stressing that robust compliance frameworks are in place to ensure confidentiality and integrity of citizen data. Rohit Kumar, Co-Chair (Policy Making) G20, shed light on the monumental scale of the census exercise and its technical aspects, elaborating on the global implications for informed policy-making at both national and international levels.