Cabinet approves Rs 11,718-crore budget for Census 2027

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved the proposal to conduct the Census of India 2027 the worldrsquos largest administrative and statistical exercise at a cost of Rs 1171824 crore news agency ANI reportedBriefing the media on the Cabinet decisions Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Census 2027 will be the 16th census overall and the eighth since IndependenceldquoCensus 2027 will be the firstever digital census The digital design of the census has been made keeping in mind data protectionrdquo he saidThe Census will be carried out in two phasesHouselisting and Housing Census mdash April to September 2026Population Enumeration PE mdash February 2027For the Union Territory of Ladakh snowbound areas of Jammu amp Kashmir Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand PE will be conducted in September 2026Nearly 30 lakh field functionaries will be deployed for the massive national exercise ANI reportedFirst digital Census with mobile app monitoring portalAn official release said data collection will be done using a mobile application while a central portal will be used for realtime monitoring ensuring higher data qualityldquoData dissemination will be much better and in a userfriendly wayhellip CensusasaService CaaS will deliver data to ministries in a clean machinereadable and actionable formatrdquo the release statedCensus 2027 will cover every household in the country with enumerators mdash mostly government school teachers mdash canvassing separate questionnaires for both phases Additional Census officials will be appointed at subdistrict district and state levelsNew digital initiatives for 2027First fully digital Census using mobile apps on both Android and iOSCensus Management amp Monitoring System CMMS portal for realtime supervisionHLB Creator web map application for Houselisting Block creationSelfenumeration option for the publicEnhanced security features for the digital processThe Cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra ModiCaste enumeration to be includedThe Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs at its April 30 meeting decided to include caste enumeration in Census 2027ldquoWith the huge social and demographic diversity in our country and related challenges Census 2027 will also capture caste data electronically in the Population Enumeration phaserdquo the release saidMassive workforce skill development faster data releaseAround 30 lakh Census functionaries including supervisors master trainers charge officers and district census officers will be deployed All of them will receive an honorarium for working on the Census alongside their regular dutiesThe government expects to release Census data in the shortest possible time with improved visualisation tools and data availability down to the village and ward levelTo deliver the digital Census about 18600 technical personnel will be hired for 550 days generating 102 crore mandays of employment ANI reported This is expected to build capacity in digital data handling monitoring and coordination improving future employment opportunities for those engagedCensus data forms the backbone of policymaking providing microlevel insights on housing amenities demography religion Scheduled Caste SCScheduled Tribe ST population language literacy economic activity migration and fertility The exercise is conducted under the Census Act 1948 and Census Rules 1990With ANI inputs