Census 2027 prep begins as Centre orders states to appoint field staff by January 2026

The Registrar General of India (RGI) has directed all 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 the 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.

Hierarchy structure

The RGI said, according to Rule 3 of the Census Rules-1990, teachers, clerks or any other officials of a state government, local authority, etc., can be appointed as an enumerator, while a supervisor will be an officer generally of a rank higher than that of the enumerator.

In addition, the states will also appoint census officers. In the districts, the district collectors, district magistrates, or nominated officers are designated as principal census officers, who will be responsible for census operations in their jurisdictions.

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Similarly, in a division, wherever it exists, the divisional commissioner will act as the divisional census officer, while in a municipal corporation, the municipal commissioner and the administrative head of the civic body will function as the principal census officer or additional principal census officer or charge officer, as the case may be.

Though the appointment of enumerators and supervisors, who will be undertaking the actual data collection, will be done later, they need to be identified in advance and registered on the CMMS portal, which RGI developed to monitor census-related activities.

Census 2027

During the upcoming census, about 30 lakh field functionaries will be deployed to complete the population count across the country within a fixed time frame. The RGI has developed a web portal, Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) for Census 2027, to manage and monitor all activities like the appointment of enumerators and supervisors, assigning the enumeration blocks and supervisory circles to them and real-time progress of the field work.

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"With all these new initiatives for Census 2027, it becomes all the more important to initiate the appointment of Census officers well in advance and complete all other formalities like registration of Census functionaries on the CMMS portal with correct and complete details," the circular said.

"The State Government/Union Territory Administration are requested to ensure the appointment of Census functionaries as detailed in the circular, latest by January 15, 2026," the document said.

Two phases

The Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases – the first, the House Listing and Housing Census, between April and September 2026 and the second, Population Enumeration (PE), in February 2027. The first phase, from April to September 2026, will be conducted over 30 days at the convenience of the state governments.

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Population Enumeration will be done in February 2027 with the reference date of 00:00 hours of March 1, 2027, except for the Union Territory of Ladakh, the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where it will be done in September 2026 with the reference date of 00:00 hours of October 1, 2026.

The exercise will be digital and also include caste enumeration as decided by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on April 30.