Says “India’s First Fully Digital Census: Paperless Progress for 1.4 Billion”
30 Lakh Officials, 2 Mascots, 1 Mission: The Roadmap to Census 2027
Census 2027 Roadmap: Houselisting First, Population Counting to Follow in February
Early Census Kick-off Planned for Ladakh , J&K
New Delhi: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Thursday soft launched four digital tools and unveiled the mascots “Pragati” and “Vikas” for Census 2027 at an event in New Delhi.
Developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), the digital platforms aim to facilitate enumeration operations across the country and modernise the census process. Senior officials, including the Union Home Secretary and the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, were present on the occasion.
Officials said Census 2027 will be the first census in India to be conducted fully through digital tools. For the first time, citizens will also have the option of self-enumeration through a secure online platform.
The mascots unveiled for the census include “Pragati”, a female enumerator, and “Vikas”, a male enumerator. The two mascots symbolise the equal participation of women and men in the national effort to achieve the goal of making India a developed nation by 2047. Authorities said the mascots will help spread awareness and communicate key messages related to the census in a citizen-friendly manner.
The Home Minister also soft launched four digital platforms designed to support various stages of the census exercise.
These include the Houselisting Block Creator (HLBC) web application, which allows officials to digitally create houselisting blocks using satellite imagery to ensure standardised geographical coverage.
Another platform is the HLO Mobile Application, a secure offline mobile application that will be used by enumerators to collect and upload houselisting data directly from the field. The application will allow data transmission from the field to the central server, reducing reliance on traditional paperwork. The app will function on both Android and iOS platforms and will support 16 regional languages.
A Self-Enumeration Portal has also been introduced for the first time, allowing eligible respondents to submit their household information online before the door-to-door survey begins. After submitting details, households will receive a unique Self-Enumeration ID that will be verified by enumerators during field visits.
The fourth platform, the Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) portal, will serve as a centralised digital dashboard to plan, monitor and manage census operations across administrative levels. Officials at district, state and sub-district levels will be able to track the progress of enumeration in real time through the system.
The government had notified its intent to conduct Census 2027 through a Gazette notification issued on June 16, 2025. The upcoming census will be conducted in two phases and is expected to be the largest enumeration exercise in the world.
Phase one, known as the Houselisting and Housing Census, will collect information on housing conditions and household amenities. This phase will be carried out between April 1 and September 30, 2026 during a 30-day period notified by each state and union territory. A 15-day self-enumeration period will be provided before the door-to-door survey.
The second phase, known as Population Enumeration, will take place in February 2027 and will record demographic, social and economic details of every individual in the country. Enumeration in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be conducted earlier in September 2026.
More than 30 lakh enumerators, supervisors and other census officials are expected to be engaged in the nationwide exercise. Officials said the use of digital tools will help ensure that the census remains accurate, secure and comprehensive.
