India's 2027 Census First Phase Starts in Key States

India's Census 2027 kicked off its first phase on Thursday, with House Listing and Housing Census operations beginning across multiple states including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh. Officials from the Directorate of Census Operations announced that trained enumerators started mapping and numbering houses in these regions, marking the country's inaugural fully digital census exercise.

The process, overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs, divides into two main stages: the current House Listing and Housing Census, followed by population enumeration scheduled from February 9 to 28, 2027. In the initial phase, which runs until May 15 in states like Odisha, enumerators visit households to collect data on 33 questions covering residential and non-residential structures, including jails and malls. Information gathered includes household amenities such as water supply, sanitation, lighting, cooking fuel, and assets like internet access, computers, vehicles, and mobile phones. All data collection occurs through a mobile application, ensuring a shift to digital processing for greater efficiency.

Prior to field operations, a self-enumeration portal at se.census.gov.in...