Jammu Kashmir Gears Up for First-ever Digital Census as Preparations Intensify | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: Preparations for the upcoming Census of India 2027 gathered momentum in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday as Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo chaired a high-level sensitisation session to review readiness for the nationwide enumeration exercise, which will be conducted digitally for the first time.

The meeting, held in the presence of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, was attended by administrative secretaries, senior officers of the Union Territory administration, divisional and district officials and representatives of various government departments.

Addressing the officers, Dulloo stressed the need for coordinated and proactive preparations to ensure smooth conduct of the census operations across the Union Territory. He said the session had clearly outlined the roles and responsibilities of different departments and called upon officials and field functionaries to extend full cooperation to the census machinery to ensure a systematic, transparent and efficient exercise.

He also highlighted the importance of public awareness and outreach, urging citizens to actively participate in the census process and provide accurate information. Dulloo noted that the success of the census depends on cooperation between the administration and the public.

Speaking on the occasion, Narayan expressed satisfaction over the level of preparedness in Jammu and Kashmir and said the discussions and briefings had instilled confidence that the census operations would be completed within the prescribed timelines. He noted that census data forms the foundational dataset for planning development programmes and determining the share of states and Union Territories in various Finance Commission allocations.

He urged officers and field staff to ensure accuracy while collecting data and emphasised the need for rigorous training in the use of digital tools to ensure smooth field operations.

During the session, Director Census Operations for Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh Amit Sharma presented a detailed roadmap for conducting the census in the Union Territory. He said the exercise would be conducted in two phases — the House Listing Operations (HLO) followed by Population Enumeration.

To manage the large-scale exercise, the department will deploy a structured training system beginning with national and master trainers who will train 614 field trainers. These trainers will subsequently train around 30,871 enumerators and supervisors across the Union Territory.

The field personnel will undergo specialised three-day training programmes between May 7 and May 25, 2026 before the commencement of field operations.

As per the operational plan, the first phase will begin with a 15-day self-enumeration window from May 17 to May 31, 2026, allowing citizens to submit details digitally. This will be followed by a month-long house-to-house enumeration in June 2026, focusing on housing conditions, amenities and infrastructure.

Considering the climatic conditions of Jammu and Kashmir, the second phase of population enumeration will start in September 2026 for snow-bound areas and in February 2027 for non-snowbound regions. The Census Reference Date has been fixed as March 1, 2027, for most areas and October 1, 2026, for snow-bound regions.

Officials said the upcoming census will capture comprehensive data on housing conditions, household amenities, assets, demographic characteristics, literacy, education, economic activity, migration and other socio-economic indicators. A dedicated mobile application available on Android and iOS platforms will be used for digital data collection and will support multiple languages, including Hindi, English and Urdu.

The application will also operate in offline mode, allowing enumerators to collect information in areas with limited internet connectivity.

Officials added that census data also serves as the basis for delimitation and reservation of constituencies for Parliament, Legislative Assemblies, Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies, besides being widely used by government agencies and research institutions.

The census exercise in Jammu and Kashmir will cover 20 districts, 207 tehsils, 6,462 villages and 78 towns, in addition to two municipal corporations.

Earlier, Narayan also reviewed the preparations during a visit to the Directorate of Census Operations for Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh in Trikuta Nagar, Jammu. During the visit, he interacted with senior officers and staff and emphasised meticulous planning and robust mechanisms for conducting the census.

The Registrar General also inaugurated a census e-library, medical room and canteen facility for employees at the Directorate office. Officials said awareness workshops and publicity campaigns will be organised to connect the general public with the national exercise, which forms the basis for development planning across the country.