First phase of census will start from 1 April 2026, digital facility will be the first time

New Delhi: The first phase of India’s upcoming and post -independence 8th census will start from April 1, 2026, in which the work of counting of houses across the country will be done. Registrar General of India gave this information.

In a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states and union territories, the Census Commissioner and General Registrar of India, Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan has told that the list of houses (House-LISTING OPERATING Operation- HL) and Housing Census will start from April 1, 2026. In this phase, information related to residential status, property and available facilities of each house will be collected.

Census will be held in two phases

First phase (from 1 April, 2026): Listing of houses

• In this phase, details will be collected about the residential status of homes, property information, and available facilities like phone, internet, vehicle (cycle, scooter, motorcycle, car, jeep, van), and other equipment (radio, TV, transistor).
• In addition, people will also be asked about grain consumption, sources of drinking water and light, types and availability of toilets, waste water disposal, bathing and kitchen facilities, fuel used for cooking and LPG/PNG connections.
• Additional questions will also be asked such as the material used for the floor, walls and roof of the house, its status, number of people living in the house, the number of rooms, the presence of married couples, and whether the head of the house is a woman or is related to the Scheduled Castes or Tribes.

Second phase (from 1 February 2027): Population Count

• In this phase, the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person will be collected in every house.
• This phase will be held in icy areas like Ladakh with a reference date of October 1, 2026 and the reference date of March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country.

Provision of digital and self-deception

The specialty of the upcoming census is that it will be done through digital medium with the help of ‘mobile application’. This is a major change from the traditional paper process. The provision of self-enumeration will also be provided to the citizens, so that they will be able to enter their information themselves. The General Registrar and Census Commissioner Office has prepared about three dozen questions asked by the citizens.

There will be no change in the boundaries of administrative units

To ensure the accuracy and smooth operation of the census work, the Central Government has directed the states and union territories to complete any proposed changes in the boundaries of administrative units before 31 December, 2025. The changes made after this will not be considered final for the census work.

India’s Census Commissioner and General Registrar, Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan in his letter has clarified that all villages and towns are divided into uniform calculations blocks for the census, and a calculator is appointed for each block, so that any mistake or repetition can be avoided during the population calculation. According to the rules, census can be done three months after the determination of administrative units like district, sub-district, tehsil, taluka and police station.

The Chief Secretaries have been asked to ensure that no changes should be made in the boundaries of administrative units between January 1, 2026 and 31 March 2027, during which the census will work. Any change in existing borders will have to be reported to the Directorates of Census of States and Union Territories by 31 December 2025.

There will be extensive deployment

More than 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and about 1.3 lakh census workers will be deployed to successfully perform the census work. This will be the 16th and 8th census after independence so far. (input language)

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