NEW DELHI, Census 2027, which will reframe the decennial count as a fully digital enterprise, will have at its heart the Census Management and Monitoring System, or CMMS, a dedicated digital portal designed to coordinate one of the world’s largest administrative practices.
In a sign of a decisive break from the paper census, the portal will replace clipboards and carbon copies with mobile devices, geotagged mapping tools and a central web-based command platform in what will be India’s first fully digital census.
The custom software backbone, designed to monitor exercise in near real-time, will allow 3.2 million field staff of enumerators and supervisors to capture accurate demographic and socioeconomic data from hundreds of millions of households using mobile devices.
Data can be transmitted, compiled and validated through the CMMS architecture, greatly reducing the time required for compilation and debugging.
“The next Census 2027 will make extensive use of digital technology to enhance the quality, efficiency and timeliness of data collection and dissemination. In the next census, data will be collected through digital mode, marking an important and transformative step towards modernization of the census process,” Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan said in a circular addressed to the Chief Secretaries of all states and union territories.
The circular, seen by PTI, says the CMMS will facilitate comprehensive management of census operations, including creation of users at different levels, handling of training modules, creation and description of household roll groups and their supervisory circles, allotment of supervisory circles and HLBs, creation of appointment letter and identity cards for enumerators and supervisors, among others.
The CMMS also enables role-based access control to facilitate assignments, training and near real-time monitoring of field census operations, she said.
The program will include a web-based mapping application that facilitates geotagging of household listing blocks, effectively integrating spatial data with the demographic census.
Digital mapping tools will help officials draw boundaries more accurately, reducing overlaps and omissions, officials familiar with the developments said.
Geotagging is expected to enhance data integrity, creating a valuable digital spatial archive for planning, disaster management and infrastructure development long after census tabulations are compiled.
The Federal Cabinet has approved $11,718 crore to conduct the 2027 census, which will include caste census for the first time.
The 16th census since independence will be a fully digital exercise and will provide citizens with the option of self-census.
The decadal exercise was originally scheduled to take place in 2021, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The census will be conducted in two phases: the household enumeration and housing census from April to September 2026, and the population census in February 2027.
The RGI has provided a list of 33 questions that will be asked to citizens during the first phase of the census roll and housing census starting April 1.
The Housing List and Census systematically includes all buildings, homes and households across the country to provide a sound framework for conducting a population census.
To ensure equitable distribution of work among field census takers during housing roll preparation operations, the village or city area will be divided into ‘blocks’, which will be well-defined areas that can be clearly demarcated on the ground and which will be mapped for census operations.
“Such blocks created for HLO and Population Census are called Household List Blocks and Census Blocks, respectively. The HLBs/EBs will ultimately be the smallest administrative unit for conducting the census and will form the basis for data processing after field operations are over,” another circular issued by RGI Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan said recently.
The HLB will be established as per population norms of 700-800 for residential areas. In sparsely populated non-residential areas, a single HLB can be formed by taking 300 or more census tract homes, she said.
“For the first time, the creation and demarcation of HLBs, formation of SC and allotment of enumerators and supervisors to HLBs and SCs will be done through the Population Census Monitoring and Management System portal and Census of India HLB 2027 – Circular No. 10 Page 5 of 12 Creator Web Mapping Application, respectively,” it said.
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