Countdown to the count: April 15 kickoff for census

NEW DELHI: The first phase of Census 2027, under which houselisting operations will be carried out across 13 revenue districts of Delhi, is likely to begin from April 15 in New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Cantonment areas.It will start from May 15 in municipal corporation areas. The formal schedule will be notified by Delhi govt weeks before the exercise starts, officials said.

Govt has stepped up ground-level preparations. A group of 17 master trainers is scheduled to undergo comprehensive training on houselisting from Feb 11 to 13. The number of master trainers varies from district to district; for example, West district has two master trainers, while South has only one. "The master trainers include tehsildars, lecturers, postgraduate teachers, district informatics officers and statistical officers. Informatics officers have been specifically engaged because the upcoming census will be conducted in a completely digital format. All data will be captured on mobile phones by enumerators, making it essential that master trainers are well-versed in digital data handling," said an official.

Govt will follow a cascade training model under which master trainers will train supervisory staff and enumerators on census procedures and data collection methods. An official said that, for Lutyens' Delhi, the ADM, chief engineer and engineers were also made charge officers because the houselisting would include the residences of the President of India, PM and other VIPs as well. In Delhi, the census will be overseen by the director of census operations, with district magistrates acting as principal officers at the district level.

At the ward level, charge officers-mainly principals and revenue officials-will supervise teams of 40-50 enumerators, including teachers and govt staff, conducting the exercise on the ground. Once it begins, the first phase of the census will be wrapped up in 30 days. To avoid operational bottlenecks in the city, which is currently estimated to have around 50 lakh households spread across 250 wards (excluding Lutyens' Delhi and Delhi Cantonment areas), authorities planned a staggered rollout. "As per the plan under discussion, the census will first begin in NDMC areas and Delhi Cantonment, which have very low population density as compared to other areas. Once these areas are covered, the exercise will expand to the 250 MCD zones," said the official. Around 260 charge officers will supervise the operation across the city. NDMC areas will have nine charge officers, mainly from the revenue and engineering departments, while Delhi Cantonment will have one dedicated officer.

The remaining 250 charge officers-mostly school principals-will oversee census work in MCD wards, with one officer assigned to each ward. When the houselisting begins, enumerators will use mobile applications to list and geo-tag buildings with the help of satellite imagery. Data entered during household visits will be uploaded in real time and cross-checked to minimise errors. The house-listing phase will involve 33 questions, focusing on housing conditions and household amenities rather than individuals. Enumerators will collect information on building usage, construction material, access to water and sanitation, cooking fuel, ownership of assets and vehicles, and even the main cereal consumed by the household-an addition aimed at understanding nutrition patterns. The second phase of the census, during which population enumeration will be done, is scheduled for Feb 2027.