Officials involved in the Census 2027 exercise interact with residents during a door-to-door awareness campaign on self-enumeration, at Suri, in Birbhum district, West Bengal.
“The census data will be recorded through a paper-less exercise, similar to the houselisting exercise, using a mobile app in snow-bound areas.
Before population enumeration is done, self enumeration will be done on https://se.census.gov.in,” said chief principal census officer and director, census operations, J&K and Ladakh, Amit Sharma.
“Census 2027 will be the 16th census of India and the eighth after Independence.
Therefore, population enumeration in these areas will be completed before the onset of severe winter,” added Deep Shikha Sharma.
The landmark population enumeration phase of the 2027 Census will kick off on Monday with self-enumeration in the Union Territory of Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, covering remote villages, mountainous communities and treacherous terrain. Officials involved in the Census 2027 exercise interact with residents during a door-to-door awareness campaign on self-enumeration, at Suri, in Birbhum district, West Bengal. (PTI)
Between August 17 and 31, residents in these regions can fill their details online. After this, census enumerators, armed with 40 questions notified last week – including those on the respondent’s caste, parental details and identity documents – will launch a door-to-door exercise from September 1 till September 30. The counting of the population for the rest of the country will take place in February next year.
“The census data will be recorded through a paper-less exercise, similar to the houselisting exercise, using a mobile app in snow-bound areas. Before population enumeration is done, self enumeration will be done on https://se.census.gov.in,” said chief principal census officer and director, census operations, J&K and Ladakh, Amit Sharma.
The operation will cover the around 274,000 people in Ladakh across seven districts. In Jammu and Kashmir, the exercise will comprise about 8.81 million people across 16 districts, including Doda, Poonch and Kupwara.
High altitude, unever terrain among other challenges Challenges include villages in Zanskar with little road connectivity, Yingchen village in Leh comprising only 11 members from two families (seven hours by foot from the nearest hamlet), and Hanle village in Changthang, which sits at an altitude of around 15,000 feet.
“Certainly, there are peaks and high altitude areas where there will be few houses but we have deployed more special charges, especially where our forces, be it army or ITBP, are located…Even if there is one family in a remote village atop a difficult terrain, our officials will go and record their data,” said Sharma.
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The directorate of census operations hopes to first record the data of lieutenant governor VK Saxena, MP Hanifa Jan, chairman of the Kargil hill development council Mohhamad Jaffer Akhoon and chief secretary Ashish Kundra on Monday morning.
“The people of Ladakh are very enthusiastic …the census gives us requisite parameters of development and socio-economic growth. We get an overall view for futuristic planning,” said Akhoon.
Census operations in Himachal Pradesh In Himachal Pradesh, the exercise will cover three districts, including Komik, one of the world’s highest motorable villages at an elevation of 15,049 feet in the Spiti valley. With 130 people in 2011, the village is home to the 500 year-old Lundup Tsemo Gompa Buddhist Monastery.
“Census 2027 will be the 16th census of India and the eighth after Independence. For the first time, citizens will have the option of participating through a self-enumeration facility,” said principal census officer and director of census operations Deep Shikha Sharma.
“For this around 6,903 snow-bound villages and areas of Himachal Pradesh have been identified for advance enumeration due to harsh winter conditions that make access difficult during the regular census period…the reason is Himachal’s difficult winter conditions as snow-bound villages and areas where heavy snowfall can make travel and access difficult during the winter months. Therefore, population enumeration in these areas will be completed before the onset of severe winter,” added Deep Shikha Sharma.
