New Delhi: The Registrar General of India (RGI) has directed all the states and Union territories to complete the appointment of census functionaries — the officers responsible for the massive data collection exercise — by January 15, 2026, according to a latest circular.
The enumerators and supervisors are the primary census functionaries responsible for data collection during the exercise, the circular said.
“An Enumerator is to be assigned the work of about 700-800 population and one Supervisor is to be engaged for every six Enumerators. Besides, there shall be 10 per cent reserve Enumerators and Supervisors for any contingencies,” it said.
“The state government/union territory administration is requested to ensure the appointment of Census functionaries latest by January 15, 2026. The concerned DCOs (directors of census operations) would liaise with the nodal departments in the respective states/UTs for appointment of Census officers as per the need and previous practices,” Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, registrar general and census commissioner of India, said in a circular on November 26.
The RGI has asked states to send copies of all appointment orders to its office for record purposes.
Field exercise for the much-delayed 16th decadal Census — due since 2021 — will be conducted by over 3 million enumerators and supervisors from April 1. The Centre informed Parliament last week that the RGI office was in the process of finalising the questionnaire for Census 2027, which will also include caste-based enumeration.
For the first time, the upcoming Census will be conducted in a digital mode with enumerators and supervisors using their mobile devices for data collection. They will then submit the data to the central server. Mobile applications for the exercise have already been developed in Hindi, English and 14 regional languages, allowing people an option to self-enumerate.
“With all these new initiatives, it becomes all the more important to initiate the appointment of Census officers well in advance and complete all formalities like registration of census functionaries on CMMS (Census Management and Monitoring System) portal with correct and complete details,” Narayan said in the circular, seen by HT.
Teachers, clerks or any official of the state government and local authority, among others, can be appointed as enumerator while supervisor will be generally of a rank higher than an enumerator, the RGI said.
Although the appointment of enumerators and supervisors, who will undertake actual data collection, will be done at a later stage, the RGI has stressed the need to identify them well in advance.
In the latest communication, Narayan designated the DCOs (who come under his office directly) as chief principal census officers to supervise the exercise in their respective states/UTs. In districts, collectors will function as principal census officers and in municipal corporations, the role will be performed by the administrative heads.
For certain exclusive areas that fall under the sole occupation and control of defence services, or special colonies under control of railways and forests, Narayan asked the DCOs to determine the special charge officers for the exercise.
The pre-test for the first phase of the Census has already been conducted from November 10 to November 30. The government has set March 1, 2027 as the date to complete the Census. Officials, however, maintained that while data collection would be over by March 1, 2027, the entire exercise to collate the data and publish it might take two to three years.
In a separate communication to states/UTs and DCOs on December 4, Narayan asked them to identify and demarcate the housing listing blocks (HLBs) and enumeration blocks (EBs) for slum areas in all statutory towns, regardless of population size, ahead of the first phase of Census 2027. The RGI emphasised that data on slums is very important and a prerequisite for urban planning.
In Census 2011, the last national enumeration, the total slum population was estimated at 65.5 million.
“Slum areas may be identified in all statutory towns irrespective of the population size. The towns may already be having a list of notified or recognised slums for their areas,” Narayan said in the communication. “While forming HLB or EB in any ward or town, [a] separate block or blocks should be formed for slum areas both at the HLO stage and later at PE stage.”
The RGI added that keeping a separate identity of the slum HLBs/EBs will enable them to compile and tabulate data for slums in both the phases of Census.
