After Census notification, states chalk out plans

A day after the Centre notified that the first phase of Census 2027, the phase of houselisting operations (HLO), will be conducted across the country from April 1 to September 30, the Odisha government on Thursday said it would carry out the exercise in April with nearly 100,000 enumerators fanning out across the state.

- ARCHIS MOHAN

The Uttar Pradesh government has indicated it will conduct the HLO in May and June with 600,000 enumerators.

Most other states are also likely to conduct the HLO in the earlier part of the April 1-September 30 window specified for the exercise.

West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry, all poll-bound, are likely to do this job once the elections, likely by the third week of May, are over.

The self-enumeration option will be available a fortnight before the beginning of the HLO phase, the Centre has said.

The second phase of the Census, the phase of population enumeration, will be conducted in February next year. The caste Census will be part of this phase.

A brief revision round will conclude the process of Census 2027 in early March next year to ensure no resident is excluded. For the Union Territory of Ladakh, snowbound areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, population enumeration will be conducted in September.