Over 26 lakh households have already availed the self-enumeration facility during the first phase of the Census operations underway in various states and Union territories, the Registrar General of India said on Wednesday. In a message on X, the RGI said the numbers indicate growing participation in the digital initiative for Census 2027. "By choosing to provide their details online, these families have embraced a faster, smarter and more convenient way to contribute to nation-building. The #SelfEnumeration facility for Phase 1 - Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO) is currently underway in select States/UTs," the RGI said. The Census, which is the eighth since independence, is being conducted in two phases -- the first stage is known as house listing and housing census, and the second is the population census.
Field visits for the housing listing and housing census began on April 16 in several states and Union territories. They will list all structures, houses, and households nationwide to provide a solid foundation for the population enumeration. The month-long exercise will be notified by each state and Union territory between April 1 and September 30. The field visits will be preceded by a 15-day window for self-enumeration, during which citizens can answer HLO phase questions via a portal. Citizens will generate a special ID after filling in the required details and answering the questions, which they will provide to enumerators who visit their homes during the HLO process for verification. In a First, the exercise shall be completely digital, with enumerators using a special mobile application created for the purpose on their phones to collect the information. During the housing listing operations, the enumerators will physically visit each house and building and pose 33 questions to the citizens regarding basic facilities in their homes, information about the head of the household, such as name and sex, and ownership status, among others. The second phase of the Census will start next year.