NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Govind Mohan has written to all ministries and departments urging officials to self-enumerate for the upcoming 2027 census exercise – scheduled to begin in April – and asserted that he will “encourage broader public adoption” of the process on the dedicated web portal.
Last year, the Union government announced the 16th population census, which will include caste census. It will be conducted in two phases and is expected to be completed by March 1, 2027.
In the first phase – the Home Listing Process (HLO) – data will be collected on each household’s housing conditions, assets and amenities from next April. In the second phase – Population Census (PE) – demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other personal details of each individual will be collected from 1 February 2027.
For self-census – a feature included for the first time – a dedicated web portal (https://se.census.gov.in) has been created where people can submit their household details starting 15 days before the start of house-to-house data collection for HLO.
“I am writing to you with a request to encourage all officials of your Ministry or Departments, attached offices and all other organizations to self-enumerate within the State/UT prescribed notification period of 15 days. Your esteemed participation will not only set a laudable example but will also encourage wider public adoption, thereby contributing significantly to the efficient, transparent and technology-enabled conduct of this vital practice of national importance,” Mohan said in the letter, seen by HT.
He also emphasized that self-counting provides a safe and flexible way to participate in the census, enabling families to submit their data at a time that suits them. “The web portal is available in English, Hindi and 14 regional languages. Any member of a family may self-enum and submit household details in about 15 to 20 minutes and obtain Self-Census ID (SE ID) via mobile phone/email.”
She added: “During the enumerator’s visit to the household, the SE ID must be shared with him for confirmation and final submission of the self-enumeration data.”
Registrar General of India, Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, is expected to provide more details during a press conference on Monday. Narayan has already issued detailed instructions to all census officials on how to conduct the exercise.
About 33.2 million enumerators, supervisors and other senior census officials participate in this process.
The Union Home Ministry had informed Parliament this month that in the 2027 census, data on gender of households headed by transgenders would be collected along with data on males and females. In the 2011 census, this information was collected under the “other” category, with the population reaching 4,87,803 people.
